Shinobi by Trade, Mage by Design
by CelestialSilhouette
Summary: Life's never easy when it comes to being Uzumaki Naruto. Destiny? Fate? Such concepts were nothing but a crock. Instead of achieving his goals and becoming Hokage after ending the 4th Shinobi World War, he winds up being subsumed into the sky by a celestial phenomenon never before seen in the Elemental Nations. To adapt to this new world, it'll take more than just guts. AU. Harem.
1. Anima

**Author's Note: **Hey all. What you're looking at is my inaugural work of fan-fiction on this site; I feel like this has been a long time coming for me. After reading some wonderful works in this crossover section, I myself was inspired to write my own Naruto/Fairy Tail story, one that I hope will be unique amongst the plethora of stories in this section.

**Acknowledgements: **The respective wikis for these two awesome series, and the people behind them. I honestly learn so much when I visit those websites; they provide great insights into a lot of things, and are a great help for a guy as obsessed with details and particulars as I am.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

"NARUTOOOHH!"

"SASUKEEEHH!"

Two angry voices, one tainted with a seemingly unending hatred, the other hoarse with indignant exasperation, yelled out, echoing throughout the Valley of the End. A clearing separating Hi no Kuni (the Land of Fire) from the bordering Oto no Kuni (the Land of Sound), it was highlighted by a gigantic rushing waterfall interposed between two incredibly large statues hundreds of feet tall that were of two of the most powerful shinobi to have ever lived: Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.

On this day, the two shinobi who fought at this very spot were, while not yet fully mature, easily the two most powerful shinobi alive, following in the footsteps of their transmigrant predecessors. After all, they had just defeated the progenitor of chakra, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, and saved the world.

Except, that was not enough for one Uchiha Sasuke.

Haggard in appearance, the last Uchiha stared down the young man who was his rival, the one who he had deemed to be the final obstacle in his latest professed goal of revolutionizing the Shinobi world. His clothes, which were once pristine, were now torn and covered liberally in splotches of blood — blood which had belonged to both him and his opponent. His cadet-gray high collared shirt with the classic Uchiha fan on the back was hanging out haphazardly, the Sound-style purple rope belt and blue cloth around his midsection having gone missing as a result of the intensity of their last clash. His dark-blue pants, though, were still in one piece, although they too were in fact slightly worn.

Due to his chakra depleted state, his right eye was now a coal black, what with his inability to maintain an activated Sharingan. His left eye, which was the unique six-tomoed Rinnegan granted to him by the Sage of the Six Paths, was closed since he needed to conserve his energy. The reason for this was, given how new the eye was to him, he was incapable of deactivating it at the moment. The left side of his face was swelling up thanks to his taking one hell of a beating from his ferocious opponent. His hair was in its usual spike-backed style, though his bangs had now lengthened to the point where they framed his face along his jawline.

While they both fought at this site once before, the reason behind that clash paled in comparison to this; where before it was all about Sasuke (seeing as how he had defected from Konoha), now their battle concerned the potential future of the Shinobi world (although the argument could be made that this fight, too, was about Sasuke, seeing as how he had initiated it). Not even Madara and Hashirama's fight held as much importance for the world's population at large, though, since it had only concerned who would become the First Hokage upon Konoha's founding.

Sasuke knew that if he wanted to achieve his latest goal, he'd have to... _kill_ a certain man. Indeed, there was only one person between him and his own personal _revolution_.

Uzumaki Naruto.

The jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko, Kurama, was in just as bad, if not worse, shape than his wayward rival. His forehead protector, which he had taken to wearing with great pride over his forehead, was inadvertently discarded, lost in the mayhem of their melee. On top of that, the jacket portion of his signature orange and black tracksuit was beyond repair, completely destroyed as a result of their incredible clash. The only garment he was wearing on his upper body was a long-sleeved fishnet-style mesh armored top, which was frayed at the sleeves, leaving them to end at his forearms. His orange pants were just as scuffed up and plastered in blood and grime as Sasuke's blue ones were.

His face was bloodied and bruised, and yet only his left eye was half swollen shut despite the unholy thrashing Sasuke had laid upon him during their struggle. Despite this, his stark blue eyes were unyielding, pinning his opponent with the most threatening glare he could muster. His blond hair was at its usual moderate length, with his bangs only just covering his forehead, although it had taken on a somewhat wavy quality due to the intensity of the duel between the two descendants of the Sage's sons, Indra and Ashura.

At the base of the valley, the two commemorative statues constructed in honour of the 'Second Six Paths' (Madara) and the 'God of Shinobi' (Hashirama) were disfigured, with both of the heads of the statues having been reduced to rubble due to the incredibly explosive nature of the battle between the two rivals of Team Seven.

Interestingly enough, despite the magnitude of said battle (including, but not limited to the fact that the two strongest shinobi alive were fighting), there was now no longer any Ninjutsu being flung around, or even any attempts at Genjutsu or a proper form of Taijutsu.

The battle deciding the fate of the Elemental Nations had devolved into a petty slugfest of a brawl.

In a rapid flurry, punches and kicks continued to be exchanged at close quarters, connecting with every body part within reach of either combatant. Neither of the two shinobi even put up a pretence of blocking or dodging, the both of them just trying to pummel the other into oblivion.

Finally, after quite a bit of time of this, the two, both exhausted, could only weakly make contact with each other with closed fists, the final fight between the two rivals who once shared a complicated and difficult to understand friendship seeming to draw to a most underwhelming end. It was at this exact moment, though, that the battle renewed in a surprising and unexpected way for the blond-haired Uzumaki.

**"Naruto..." **rumbled the voice of Kurama, who in fact was the portion of the Kyūbi's Yin chakra transferred to him by his father via Obito. **"I****t's taken me some time, but I've finally gathered enough chakra for you to use!" **After a brief pause, Yin-Kurama exclaimed, **"OK... finally!"**

It was then, at that very moment, that the Kyūbi and Naruto noticed that the chakra the Bijū summoned up was being _drained_.

'Shit!' Naruto thought, his face so bruised and swollen that it failed to express the alarm he was now feeling due to this unexpected turn of events. 'He's absorbing the Kyūbi's chakra!'

Glancing down in pure, unadulterated shock at the latest development in their fight that was yet again in Sasuke's favour, Naruto could only scowl. First Sasuke had gotten all nine Bijū, which he had ensnared in a genjutsu thanks to his Rinnegan (which evidently had the ability to access his Sharingan powers, making it all the more potent), and now _this?_ Even Gakidō (Preta Path) was within his grasp? What other abilities had he gained? What other skills had he been hiding in their fight with Kaguya?

"This... is one of the Rinnegan's powers," Sasuke explained smugly, using a deliberately slow enunciation in order to further taunt his rival.

Obviously under the mistaken impression that Naruto had never fought a Rinnegan user before, he took Naruto's surprise for what it was at face value, haughtily deeming it to be yet another thing his annoying ex-teammate was too ignorant to understand. However, the blond was in fact shocked by how Sasuke was so quickly able to learn the advanced techniques at the disposal of Rinnegan users without any guidance whatsoever.

Was there an inherent set of instructions ingrained within the eye? There had to be _some_ sort of explanation. No matter how much of a prodigy one may be, some things were just not _possible_. The ability t use advanced techniques effectively without any training or prior practice clearly applied. Was it something the Sage of the Six Paths had imparted upon the raven-haired shinobi, like he had given the blond himself? If the foreknowledge of how to utilize his Six Paths Chakra extended to the Rinnegan as well, then it would explain the Uchiha's prowess with the eye's transcendent capabilities.

Despite the fact that his reserves were so low that he had to keep his eye closed to ensure that his constantly active Rinnegan remained out of use, Sasuke revelled in the chakra boost, which, while potent, was made all the more sweeter thanks to the knowledge that it had been meant for his former comrade.

The potency of the chakra the Uchiha had taken in could not be understated; he had essentially intercepted the chakra that had been meant for Naruto before the blond could assimilate it into his own reserves, meaning that the raven-haired teen had absorbed the chakra directly from its source in the Kyūbi. Now finding the strength to stand from his previous kneeling position, the dark-haired youth left his fair-haired opponent to fall onto his hands and knees, reeling from being on the wrong end of a chakra draining technique.

Naruto's mind was running a mile a minute, trying to figure out what, if any, other recourse he had available to him to overcome such a demoralizing turn of events. To go from having the boost of chakra necessary to finally put Sasuke in his place, to losing it to that very same person, was absolutely crushing.

He didn't let it show on his face, though. He wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction.

Sasuke, though, had no qualms about restricting the downright gleeful smirk he now wore thanks to the way things had now worked out for him.

He couldn't believe how much more revitalizing than regular chakra the Kyūbi's chakra was; it was like night and day. While it wasn't a significant amount, it was more than enough for a final jutsu or two.

Naruto, meanwhile, was _still_ baffled as to how the bastard had even managed to master the eye to such a degree; not in _how_ exactly he had done so, but _why_ the old Sage had given him such a marked advantage in that regard. Given his comprehension on the matter, it was not unreasonable on his part to assume that Sasuke had managed to learn at least a few more of the abilities of the Samsāra eye, including the other paths.

"It's me, the one who has the eyes of the Uchiha clan, who is destined to win," the scion of the Uchiha said arrogantly, fully believing in the unparalleled abilities his new Rinnegan had provided him.

"Finally... alone..." he muttered, charging his most favored technique, the Chidori (One Thousand Birds), in his dominant left hand. As he did this, he couldn't help but feel the slightest tremble of excitement welling up in his chest due to his impending victory.

Naruto, who had been looking down into the shallow water his limbs were submerged in, angled his head upwards slightly to look up from the rippling water at Sasuke, his eyes shining with the defiance and willfulness he had become known for.

"See you," Sasuke said, his right eye activating its Sharingan to ensure his attack struck true, "my only... FRIEND!"

As he raised his hand to deliver the final blow, his right eye, the only one open at the moment, weakened, his Sharingan suddenly deactivating unexpectedly. While he hadn't used too much of his chakra, the sudden change in visual acuity had a disorienting effect on him and, in his overexcited state of mind, this caused him to falter. The result of all this was Sasuke leaving an opening for Naruto to exploit in order to ensure the continuation of their fight.

Rising up out of the water suddenly with an energy only he himself would have been capable of summoning up in the immediate aftermath of having his chakra damn near depleted, Naruto violently uppercutted Sasuke, the force of his sudden counterattack throwing the last Uchiha bodily across the clearing until he crashed into the rapidly deteriorating statue of Uchiha Madara.

Sasuke, irritated beyond belief, looked at Naruto with a caustic glare. The blond returned it with an equal fervor after having thwarted the latest attempt on his life by his so-called friend.

"How... why the hell won't you just stay _down!"_ Sasuke raged, fury overcoming him as he forcefully reactivated his dōjutsu, his left eye still closed.

"No matter how many times I knock you down, you keep on coming back! JUST GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK AND STAY THE FUCK DOWN ALREADY!" he screamed. Enraged, his countenance was now in complete contrast to what it was mere moments before, when he had been relishing his perceived impending triumph.

"I can't..." came Naruto's hoarse response, for once appearing to be the cooler and more level-headed of the two. "I can't give up. I _never_ give up. _You_ give up, trying to make _me_ give up!"

Sasuke's only response was to growl in anger, hastily charging up another Chidori as his right eye morphed into its most advanced state: the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Unique in its appearance, it had three intersecting blood red ellipses surrounding the symmetrically aligned pinwheel pattern reminiscent of Itachi's own Mangekyō.

The reason he ramped his Sharingan up to its most powerful form was made all too apparent when he added his Enton: Kagutsuchi (Blaze Release: Added Tool Earth Lord) to the lightning technique, using the shape manipulation his right eye was capable of to infuse it into the Chidori itself.

'So it comes to this... I should have known, even when I almost ended it. But, I _will_ end this here! With this final attack, I will ensure my own personal revolution!' Sasuke thought.

Naruto, as was becoming commonplace here in this battle, met Sasuke's wild glare with his own stern, unrelenting orbs, confident that Sasuke wouldn't deign to ensnare him within an ocular genjutsu of which only the Sharingan was capable of. It was an assured confidence, one rooted in the knowledge he had of his rival. As talented as Sasuke was, his new Amaterasu-enhanced chidori clearly took a lot of concentration to form; therefore, ensnaring an opponent with a genjutsu off of eye contact was not possible, not while said eye was being used to manipulate the shape and form of the intense black flames that served as the nucleus for his deadly technique.

Ironically enough, the blond could thank Sasuke's brother, Itachi, for imparting such knowledge about the vaunted dōjutsu onto him that would allow for such insight into the eye's capabilities.

In the meantime, Naruto was in a one-sided conversation with the Kyūbi comprised solely of Yin chakra sealed within him.

**"Naruto... I'm going to give you my remaining chakra, since you went and got the rest taken by that brat of an Uchiha. Don't squander this opportunity, don't use up your chakra to the limit, and DON'T let him drain any more of your chakra! Once I transfer my chakra to you, I'll fall asleep. When I awaken, I expect to see this fool ****_dead_,"** Kurama said.

Naruto, who was inside his mental plane for only a brief moment to converse with the Kyūbi, looked back at him without saying a word. The Bijū, though, didn't really care that he never received any response from his partner, figuring that would be all he would get out of the blond for the moment.

Once Yin-Kurama had transferred the remainder of his chakra to Naruto (which was not an insignificant amount) and had subsequently fallen asleep to recoup his expended energy, Naruto looked up at the incredibly powerful jutsu Sasuke was nurturing in his left hand; the ominous black flames whirling around, ensconced within the chirping, flickering lightning blade.

Seeing his opponent still charging his technique, Naruto closed his eyes and gathered his chakra. "Sorry, Kurama, but I'm gonna have to use a lot of energy for this one. Don't worry though... I won't let you down," he muttered solemnly.

When he next opened his eyes, his pupils had morphed into a cross-like shape, a combination of the slitted eyes he had when he was influenced by the tailed beast's chakra and the horizontal bars seen in toad-style Senjutsu (Sage Techniques), albeit with dark red irises rather than the toad-like yellow in the standard fare Sage Mode, as well as a distinct lack of the orange-red eyeshadow-like markings seen on the archetypical toad sage.

Raising his right hand, he quickly channeled some of the chakra given to him by the Yonbi, Son Gokū, forming a Rasengan with a lava-infused nucleus. As the jutsu grew in size, blades of molten lava began propelling around it, emitting steam due to the intense heat generated by the lava-natured chakra. He knew that a standard, unaltered Rasengan wouldn't be able to stand up to a lightning blade enhanced with the flames of Amaterasu, and so added his own newly acquired advanced chakra nature to his signature technique, effectively fighting fire with fire.

As he saw Sasuke finally start to make his downwards charge towards him, Naruto willed his technique to become even larger.

'Senpō: Yōton Rasenshuriken (Sage Art: Lava Release Spiralling Shuriken)!' was the mental intonation within his mind upon the technique's formation. Once it had become moderately sized (not wanting to overpower it and kill Sasuke outright), he began his own charge towards the free-falling shinobi, who, after situating himself on the cliffside, descended down to meet his lifelong rival in one final clash.

Once Naruto got close enough to ensure his attack would hit, he threw it, knowing how foolish it would be to remain anywhere in the proximity of the inevitable clash between the two incredibly powerful jutsu, not to mention the fact that his attack itself was _meant_ to be thrown. After all, who in their right mind would want to risk taking any backfiring damage from a Lava Release technique, regardless of its potency? And this wasn't even taking into account the nature of the technique it was clashing with, which itself was no joke.

Sasuke, seeing this, hastily formed a less chakra intensive (and thus, not-as-fortified) Susano'o (He With The Ability To Help By All Means), slightly weakening his Kagutsuchi-enhanced Chidori due to faltering in his concentration as far as maintaining the jutsu was concerned. The trade-off, though, was that he was able to strengthen his defences in the process, as well as the fact that it was now his Susano'o that wielded his attack.

Naruto, not expecting this by any means, was caught in the peripheries of the ensuing explosion due to Sasuke speeding up to meet his lava-style Rasenshuriken in midair, thanks to the stabilization his winged Susano'o provided him.

The eruption that materialized from the clashing of the two lethal techniques was, to put it simply, a murder of the senses: it was blindingly bright, thunderously deafening, and vertigo-inducing. Violent tremors shook the earth, as if the cataclysmic explosion itself was naturally occurring. The two statues erected in honour of the battle for the right to become the inaugural Hokage were now in pieces, crumbling apart.

It appeared the descendants of the Senju (via the Uzumaki) and Uchiha clans had stalemated once again.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Anima**

* * *

In a large, cavernous hall with ornate marble carved pillars lining a wide, red carpet with gold trimmings, a lone, solitary man sat in complete and utter silence, outwardly encouraging a tranquil atmosphere that, while depressing, was more conducive to his thought processes.

This man was tall and slim, but elderly, with thick grayish-white shoulder-length hair and matching facial hair which extended down to his chest in the form of a large beard. He had a cadaverous appearance with beady, sunken eyes and a flat, prominent nose. His attire, while regal, was somewhat dull, consisting of only differing shades of brown: a brown pinstriped coat, a light brown coat with a darker brown mantle (which had fur trimmings), a brown and white hat similar to that of a mitre, and light, baggy pants tucked into a pair of simple, black boots.

Seated on a cushioned, ostentatious throne, King Faust of the Royal Kingdom of Edolas leaned back, ruminating on potential solutions to his ever-pressing problem.

How to procure enough magic to overthrow the Exceeds.

No, that wasn't right. What he truly desired was to obtain an infinite supply of magic for his mobilizing army (and the human populace of Edolas as a whole) through which he could wage a war with the self-styled angelic race, thereby aiding humanity in the removal of their status as second-class citizens.

It was a bit extreme, sure, but for humanity to realize its potential, it was a necessary path to take. Nothing would vindicate him more than to eliminate that accursed race of cats, but again, that was only an ancillary goal of his, one that paled in importance to the procurement of magical energy for Edolas.

It was an ambition he had held close to his heart for many years. He couldn't think of a more infuriating prospect than to remain subjugated to the pompous race of cats any longer than necessary, except for a future without any magic for the glorious kingdom of Edolas.

Considering the counsel his Chief of Staff, Byro, had provided him, Faust knew he had nothing to worry about. While the Exceeds, unlike humans, were able to store magic within their bodies, in the end all they were capable of was _Aera_ magic; they were not a warrior race by any stretch of the imagination.

At times, even he had wondered why it was he tolerated their 'rule' rather than rebel against them. In order to quell such foolish thoughts, all he had to think on was the possibility that, even should humankind succeed in their rebellion against their Exceed overlords, he, as King, would be ruling over a nation _without any magic._

That, as one could infer, was completely unacceptable for the ambitious monarch.

Additionally, in 'ordering' he and his fellow humans to gather magic, they were only overseeing their own eventual demise. The Exceeds had gone so far as to send over one hundred of their eggs, their own offspring, to bring them sources of near limitless magic. Until they wised up, there was no need to act rashly; the Exceeds were currently an asset. 'One step at a time,' he always cautioned, calming his overly-excitable subordinates; perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask that he follow his own advice. Once they had outlived their usefulness, they would all perish, simple as that.

Faust was so ensconced within his own thoughts that he almost didn't notice the frenzied scurrying of the diminutive form of the subordinate messenger girl he had allowed for Byro to take on as an assistant.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" she yelled as she ran to and fro, her odd style of running leaving miniature dust clouds in her wake as the strange droopy ears she wore as headgear flopped around. She had large brown eyes and long hair that was secured into a ponytail that hung over the front of her right shoulder, fastened by a blue sphere-shaped hair tie. Her small nose, combined with her odd headwear, gave her the appearance of a puppy. Lean and short, she was wearing a bright yellow dress over a skin-tight dark blue bodysuit with white gloves, although her footwear was conspicuously absent; she was barefoot. Before long, Coco, the Assistant Chief of Staff, stood before the King at the base of the steps of the raised platform which held his throne.

Saluting the King of Edolas as had been drilled into her by Byro (he had stressed this vehemently, adamant that she not allow for even the merest hint of disrespect — she represented him in front of the king, after all), she addressed him with as much conviction as she could muster. "Your Majesty, our sensors have picked up readings from a new source of incredible magic!"

Despite the supposed good news, Faust frowned. While the girl's antics would endear her to a more soft-hearted individual, it only incensed him. For the sake of the news she bore, he would tolerate it, but he made a mental note to inform Byro of his disapproval of the girl.

"Elaborate," he ordered gruffly.

"It is a source of magic located in a new world that far eclipses any that we have ever recorded from Earthland, your Majesty!"

"Do you mean to say that Byro has succeeded? He has established contact with this... other world?"

"Yes! And the most incredible part is that its only taken us a day!" Coco said, beaming.

"How long until we can begin extraction?" the King immediately asked.

"We are currently working towards establishing a firm foothold in this new dimension. Chief Byro says–"

"Bring him here," Faust interrupted.

"Your Majesty?" Coco asked, nonplussed, tilting her head in a way that a casual observer would find to be endearing.

"I'd rather hear this from him; he'll be able to answer my questions. Go fetch him. _Now."_

"Ye... yes, your Majesty! Right away!" she squeaked, scampering off in search of her direct superior.

* * *

[|||]

(Hours Later — Valley of the End)

After an indeterminable amount of time, Naruto awoke, slumped against the base of the thoroughly ravaged monument of Senju Hashirama, having been flung there due to the backlash of the collision of powerful techniques.

Directly across from him, unconscious and thoroughly unresponsive, Sasuke laid amongst the rubble of Uchiha Madara's statue. It seemed he was half-buried, although he did not appear to be submerged within the debris _too_ much.

Despite being at the epicentre of the blast, he appeared relatively unharmed, no doubt thanks to the stellar defence provided by his Perfect Susano'o. Using such a chakra intensive technique at such a critical juncture, though necessary to ensure his survival, was nevertheless a crucial mistake, if only because he'd left himself at the blond's mercy due to the severe chakra exhaustion he was no doubt experiencing.

Pulling himself to his feet with great difficulty, Naruto stumbled due to how wobbly his legs were feeling. He'd never really felt chakra exhaustion before, but he hadn't really seen what the big deal was.

Sure, it sucked: his muscles were sore, his throat was dry, and he felt somewhat sluggish, but he still had some chakra available from the various tailed beasts to use if he needed it, and he didn't feel any of the lightheadedness typically associated with minimal chakra levels within the body.

Yeah, he didn't really know how it felt to be bereft of his chakra.

Slowly, but surely, he staggered along, making his way to his rival's prone form. When he finally reached him, he saw first hand the toll their fight took on the last Uchiha. There were bags that had formed underneath his eyes, his body looked incredibly pallid, and he was perspiring profusely; chakra exhaustion had hit him _hard_. Looking a bit more closely, Naruto could see the slightest movements being made by Sasuke's chest as it rose and fell very slowly.

After a brief moment where he dug out Sasuke's partially submerged body from the rubble, he allowed himself a moment to recollect himself. He had finally won, but it wasn't over just yet; he had to compose himself.

Naruto held out his right hand, gripping his right forearm with his left hand. Channeling a fair amount of Shukaku's chakra into his arm in concert with a minuscule amount of his own chakra, he formed a Rasengan about the size of a baseball.

'Senpō: Jiton Rasengan (Sage Art: Magnet Release Spiralling Sphere).'

While a much smaller than average Rasengan, it nonetheless had the cursed seal markings of the One Tailed beast, a sign that it was using its own type of sealing jutsu.

Naruto was, oddly enough, quite pleased with being able to even do this much. Looking down at his arm, he saw it trembling involuntarily due to the strain he was putting it under trying to maintain his sealing Rasengan's stability. Looking down at Sasuke, he knew he couldn't delay any longer, so promptly knelt beside his former teammate's prone body and drove the baseball-sized Rasengan into the raven-haired teen's gut.

Sasuke cried out in pain, forcefully awakened by the legendary spherical technique that, while small, packed no less a punch.

"GUH! Wh... what the fuck?!" the dark-haired youth wheezed, bile rising up in his throat. When a coal black eye settled upon a familiar whisker-marked visage, he jerked violently, his anger at seeing the blond up and about as if nothing was wrong revitalizing him for the briefest of moments.

All too soon, though, he came to know of the fact that his energy was gone.

When he tried moving his body again, it was unresponsive. He struggled, but it was to no avail. His vigorous attempts to move his currently unresponsive body resulted in the adverse effect of his chest rattling as he hacked up blood.

Sasuke couldn't help but snarl in helpless anger as he noticed that Naruto, despite his slightly wavy, but mostly spiky fair hair looking as unruly as ever — with his bangs matted against his forehead due to the liberal amount of perspiration on his brow — looked to be... _okay_.

When he felt his already exhausted body being restricted even further as the sealing jutsu took hold, Sasuke couldn't help but gaze down in wonderment at what Naruto had done to him: the curse seal markings of Shukaku had spread over almost his whole body. 'This is the jutsu he used to bind Madara's shadow...'

"That's right," Naruto said, reading the expression on Sasuke's face. "It's over. I've won." He then placed his right hand on Sasuke's chest when the cursed seal markings of Shukaku covered his entire frame except his head; a quick pulse of chakra stalled the sealing jutsu temporarily.

"..."

"Heh... to think that _me,_ the one who has the body and chakra of the Senju clan, would turn out to be the one to win," Naruto said with a reserved chuckle, in essence, turning Sasuke's words from earlier back on him. When Sasuke remained silent at that little jab, Naruto peered down at him, his normally warm blue eyes turning decidedly frigid as he scrutinized his rival.

Sasuke looked up at him, perceiving Naruto's stare to be a questioning one. "Hnn... you still don't understand, Naruto..."

Naruto sighed. "I don't know if I _want_ to understand. Your idea of Hokage..." he trailed off, pausing, before saying, "...It makes no sense."

Sasuke scoffed at the blond's unsurprising lack of comprehension. "Hmph. Nothing against you, Naruto, but... for my vision of Hokage to come to fruition, I needed to cut off all relations. To get rid of all the past mistakes, and start anew. You were the last, Naruto... and still, you stand in my way."

Naruto ruefully chuckled at that, no longer surprised at how difficult Sasuke was being, but still somewhat curious at his motivations. "Heh. Of all the times to do something like this, though... why now? Why, after everyone sacrificed all they had? Why, when so many people are at risk of dying?"

When he received no answer for his questions, he said, "Sasuke... I couldn't fail. The stakes were too high, and everyone was — _is _— counting on me. ...I had to stop you."

Sasuke was silent for a moment, before saying, "So, are you going to release me?"

"Eh? And why the hell would I do that?" Naruto asked, astonished and quite frankly affronted at the Uchiha's audacity. After everything he'd done, after all the bullshit he'd put them though, he had the _gall_ to ask such a thing of him?

"Because," Sasuke said smugly, a small smirk appearing on his face, "you need the Rinnegan to dispel the Infinite Tsukuyomi, just like I needed the chakra of the Tailed Beasts to do so. You _need_ me if you want to free everyone."

Naruto frowned at that, particularly irked at the dark-haired boy's self-satisfied tone. "No, Sasuke. I don't."

"Really, now?" the Uchiha said, his tone uncharacteristically light.

Naruto paused, before speaking softly, "There's... another way. There's _always_ another way."

Sasuke didn't know what it was he was talking about, so said disbelievingly, "What other way?! Everyone is on _borrowed time_ — the more time you waste, the closer everyone is to being turned into those damned White Zetsu's!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Naruto snarled, his voice heated. "And _you_... what the hell're _you_ talkin' for? If that happens, it'll be _your_ fault for being such an asshole and trying to do your stupid 'revolution'!"

"So what's this 'other way' of yours, then?" Sasuke asked, his tone sharp and biting in his mocking of the blond.

Naruto sighed. "You said so yourself. I need the Rinnegan to dispel the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

"Yeah, and?" Sasuke said with a laugh. "You don't have one!"

"I don't," Naruto said in agreement. "...But you do."

"...What?"

"..."

"..."

"I don't have to spell it out for you, do I?" Naruto asked softly.

He didn't. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he looked at the blond in a new light; a look that conveyed both his grudging respect and his smouldering anger.

For the normally peaceable blond to even suggest such a thing...

Sasuke, as strange as it was, almost laughed. He didn't think the moron had it in him.

"Would you really do it?" Sasuke asked lowly. "Take my eye?"

Naruto looked surprised at how reserved Sasuke was, considering the topic. Eventually, after mulling the prospect over in his mind some more, he responded, saying, "...If I have to." Naruto realized his mistake the moment the words left his mouth. Sasuke, as perceptive as always, had taken notice of the hesitance colouring the fair-haired teen's voice.

Naruto didn't want to do this.

Sasuke almost smiled. He knew Naruto as well as anybody. If he didn't want to do this, then chances were, he wouldn't.

"You won't," Sasuke said, eyes widening slightly in realization. "Release me, and we'll dispel the genjutsu... _together." _

Sasuke's oily voice would have worked on anybody else in his shoes. Unfortunately for him, Naruto was as familiar with him as he himself was with Naruto.

"You'd _lie_... about something like _this?_ Why?"

Sasuke didn't answer, looking momentarily stunned at Naruto's insight before he schooled his expression and said, "I'm not lying. You've won our fight. I'll help you remove the genjutsu and we can move on from this."

"Idiot," Naruto seethed. "I can _tell_ you're lying. Your hatred is fucking _leaking__,_ bastard. You thought I wouldn't notice?"

"Who cares?!" Sasuke yelled, so irked with Naruto's inexplicable ability to detect his spoken falsehoods that he gave up all pretences of amicability. Snapping at Naruto, he spat, "You'd never take my eye, anyway! You're nothing but a peace-loving idiot! I constantly screw you over and you never do anything about it! What'll make this time any different? HUH?!"

Naruto lowered his head, an action which caused his bangs to shroud his eyes. "This time..." he said, his voice taking on a heightened raspiness as it lowered significantly, "everyone's lives are at stake."

"Wha–?! _Aargh!"_

Roaring in pain, Sasuke could only stare at the blond in pure, unadulterated shock; his now-lone right eye conveyed his utter disbelief at what had transpired, for with one deft movement, Naruto had ripped his left eye out of its socket.

"What... what the _fuck?_ You... you actually did it... you actually took my fucking eye...!" the raven-haired youth rasped, stunned at what the blond had done. His voice hoarse from his roar of pain, he coughed weakly, cursing, "Asshole..."

Naruto said nothing in response, his eyes reflecting a mixture of sadness and exasperation at the measure he had just taken against the downed opponent that was his ex-teammate.

Sasuke, in a lot of pain due to having his eye forcefully removed so suddenly and unexpectedly, could only breathe hard, sharply inhaling oxygen to catch his breath and to try to mitigate the effect the pain was having on him. He turned a hateful glare upon Naruto, though the effect was unsurprisingly mitigated by the fact that he only had one eye.

Ignoring him, Naruto looked down contemplatively at the purple orb in his left hand. It was disappointing the extent he had to go to, but he needed the eye if he was to end the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Assuring himself that he'd remove the eye once he'd undone the powerful genjutsu, he steeled himself in preparation for what he was about to do next.

Taking one last moment to brace himself, the blond proceeded to gouge out his own left eye before quickly implanting the Rinnegan orb to replace it, using his yang-natured chakra to facilitate and aid in the integration process that immediately followed the implantation. After a short amount of time, his new eye was promptly innervated and connected to his brain, allowing him to see out of it after allowing a few moments for it to acclimatize itself in its new host.

In an all too immediate fashion, his world was changed in an immense way. He could feel the eye siphoning off his chakra somewhat significantly (naturally the result of him not being the true wielder of said eye), but it was a mere drop in the bucket for him; more importantly, though, was what he could _see_. It was like a whole new world of chakra opened up before him. "Incredible..."

He could actually _see_ chakra. It was truly remarkable. Chakra had _colours_. Even though he couldn't see the ambient energy in nature that he made use of when utilizing Senjutsu, he could see its assimilation and transformation within his body when blending with his own chakra_;_ it was truly a sight to behold.

Naruto, quite frankly, was in awe of what he was seeing.

Sasuke, still embittered by what Naruto had done to him, remained silent. Glancing up at the blond as said blond acclimatized himself with the Rinnegan, he opened his mouth as if he wanted to utter something, before deciding against it.

While Naruto noticed the contemplative stare being directed at him, he gave no indication of noticing it, not wanting to prompt Sasuke to speak his mind. He got the feeling that the dark-haired teen was considerably tetchy, and didn't want to brew up another argument when he had an important task to do.

'...Chibaku Tensei (Heavenly Body Bursting from the Earth),' Naruto thought, clapping his hands together in an imitation of Sasuke's use of the jutsu before their clash, essentially hijacking the technique from his immobilized rival. Moments later, the nine Bijū were released from their respective celestial prisons after Naruto used the gravity manipulation of the Deva Path; a pulse of chakra from his new Rinnegan, and they were freed from their mental subjugation, as well.

'This eye really is incredible,' Naruto thought. As expected, it had practically come with built-in instructions. When he wanted to use any technique at the disposal of a Rinnegan user, it was as if the knowledge of said techniques were intrinsic, like he'd always known how to perform them. It truly was a marvel, a revelation to anyone fortunate enough to wield it.

No wonder Sasuke became so arrogant after he obtained the revered dōjutsu.

When the tailed beasts regained full control of their mental faculties, their attention automatically zeroed in on the transmigrant duo at the heart of the conflict.

**"Keh heh heh... Well, done, Naruto. You've come through once more,"** Kurama praised, relief evident in his voice. A moment later, though, his eyes met Naruto's. **"Whoa..."**

**"Ukikiii! He's taken the Rinnegan for himself... how fitting!"** Son Gokū laughed, very much pleased at the turn of events. Naturally, his feelings were matched by all the other Bijū as well, as they all voiced their own agreements.

**"So, Naruto,"** Gyūki said moments later, **"what will you do now?"**

Naruto, beginning to form the _Rat_ Hand Seal, said, "I'll release everyone from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, of course. And, now that I have the Rinnegan and the Six Paths Sage Chakra, no one can try anything like what Sasuke did; no one will seal and control you. This world will finally know peace."

And with that, he activated the release of the celestial mass genjutsu. 'Mugen Tsukuyomi: Kai (Infinite Moon Reader: Release)!'

Once he was certain everyone had been released from the Infinite Tsukuyomi (by using his newfound proficiency in sensing), thereby saving them from ultimately being turned into the husks that were White Zetsu, Naruto realized his body was starting to feel the strain of all the fighting he had done continuously.

Weary as all hell, the blond, despite being pleased overall with how well things were now going, was nevertheless going through the motions; he was not looking forward to what he would have to do to next by any stretch of the imagination.

Remembering that he'd left Sasuke bound and lying on the ground, he turned towards the raven-haired shinobi, but was surprised to find the ever-transparent avatar of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki appear before him instead.

"Uzumaki Naruto..."

"...Uh... yeah...?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...?"

Naruto did not think it possible for a silence this awkward to last this long. The Rikudō Sennin may have been a progenitor of the shinobi way of life, but Naruto was convinced the man had no idea how to interpret social cues. The blond gestured multiple times to encourage the man to get on with what he was going to say, but the relic just wouldn't get the hint, so when that failed to register, he spoke up, too tired to stall any longer.

"...Old Man Rikudō? What's up?"

The direct approach seemed to do the trick, seeing as how the horned man finally began speaking.

"...I put my faith in you to curb Sasuke's hatred, and despite all his power, it has proven to be insufficient against a shinobi of your ilk. Well done," the Sage said, congratulating Naruto.

"Wait, what do you mean you 'put your faith in me'? How would you know that Sasuke would try to do all this?" Naruto asked, disbelief colouring his voice.

"...Because he told me," the Rikudō Sennin bluntly replied. "I met with Sasuke in the transcendent plane of existence, just as I met with you. When I asked for your answer, you told me that you wanted to protect your friends. Do you know what Sasuke's answer was?"

"...No," Naruto said, finally answering when he realized the Sage's question was not rhetorical.

"He spoke honestly, Naruto; he told me of his intention to kill you," Hagoromo said in his usual straightforward manner.

Naruto looked down at Sasuke, only to see a placid expression that did nothing to confirm or deny the ancient Sage's words.

"And yet..." Naruto began, struggling to find the right words, "you... you _still_ gave him that power, the _Rinnegan_... why?"

"Because of my past mistake," the horned hermit explained. "I erred when I solely gave my power to my younger son, Ashura. I left everything to him rather than give Indra some as well. My elder son grew to despise both myself and his brother because of my mistake."

"So you gave Sasuke all this power just because you felt _bad_ about a mistake you made all those years ago? You gave him your power to make up for a mistake that, ultimately, led to all of this happening?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it in those terms, but in light of all that's occurred, I can say... yes."

"Well then... it's obvious that you fucked up again, old man."

The spectre of the Sage smiled grimly. "...Is that right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, you messed up the first time by only giving Ashura his inheritance, but this was just as bad. You say Indra loved you and his brother, and your decision caused a rift between them... here, though, Sasuke already had a lot of hatred. He had a lot of baggage thanks to his family and his brother. Power was all he cared about for _years_. Giving him more was no solution; even I can see that," Naruto said, his remarkably profound insight surprising the archetypical sage.

"Hmph," the apparition of the Sage grunted, a wry smirk on his visage. "I've been watching you for some time, now, Naruto. You may not be perceived to be the most intelligent–" the blond scowled at that; he _hated_ that perception of himself, "–but you have proven yourself to be a worthy successor to me. Allow me to do you this one last kindness..."

"Wh... what are you gonna do?" Naruto asked, a bit wary of the of the founder of _Ninshū_, who floated towards him. "And what do you mean, 'one last kindness'?"

Chuckling at the formerly confident blond's sudden bout of reticence, Hagoromo said simply, "The Rinnegan."

When the blond gave him a look of bemusement, he continued, saying, "While I was not the one to give it to you, of course, I _have_ implanted my knowledge of how to use the eye _into_ said eye, thereby aiding you when you took it as your own. It will be more chakra intensive for you to use, since it was not originally yours, but your high chakra reserves should help in that regard. I will also seal Kurama's other half into your body; he'll be by your side once more, this time as a whole."

Naruto looked up at the gigantic formed of Yang-Kurama, who appeared to be a bit irritated with the Sage, if his annoyed stare was any indication.

"And finally, as a form of reparation for the undue tasks I have burdened you with, along with sealing Kurama and his Yang chakra within you, I will once more bestow upon you my Rikudō no Yō no Chikara (Six Paths Yang Power), as well as gift you with the Yin power I had originally granted Sasuke, the Rikudō no In no Chikara (Six Paths Yin Power)."

Having finally said his piece, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki went about sealing Kurama's Yang chakra within Naruto (thereby fusing his Yin and Yang halves and making the Kyūbi 'whole' again) before once more endowing him with the Yang Power, this time along with the Six Paths Yin power he had originally conferred onto Sasuke.

After doing all this in a brief period of time, the Sage unsurprisingly vanished, having exhausted all of his remaining energy in transferring to Naruto a significant portion of his power.

Looking down at his hands, Naruto could see each palm had a unique symbol upon them; the right one had the now-familiar light-coloured circle marking reminiscent of the sun, while the left one had a dark-coloured symbol resembling a waning crescent moon.

"Wow! I feel... incredible!" Naruto exclaimed. "How do you feel, Kurama? Is it good to be whole once more?"

**"Hmph. Don't test my patience, Naruto. I won't tolerate such silly questions."**

"Uh... that's not a 'no'," the blond said with great amusement; he knew being split in two had always irked the bijū. The fox only grumbled at his companion's ribbing.

Naruto, feeling renewed like never before, opened up his senses once more, feeling almost everyone having completely stirred from their induced hypnosis at the hands of the mass genjutsu.

The whisker-marked youth couldn't help but smile broadly. Things were finally looking up.

* * *

[|||]

(Earlier that Day — In Edolas)

"Ngushushushushu... you called, your Majesty?" a short, stocky man asked, his grisly laughter echoing throughout the throne room as he made his way to present himself to the King, hobbling all the while.

He was a bald man with a strangely shaped nose and large, sunken eyes. He had dark liver spots, a sign of his advanced age, as well as thick eyebrows that were shaped in such a way that they resembled horns. His unappealingly small frame was garbed in a large decorated cape with ornamental medals on the front and a wide, adorned collar, with a smaller, darker robe with a light trim underneath.

Despite his being amused (as his bearing would indicate), he was still somewhat irked that he had to make his way all the way down to the throne hall. He had that annoying assistant of his, Coco, employed as his direct subordinate for that very reason, after all.

"Yes, Byro. That... _assistant_... of yours presented to me some very interesting news..." the King bit out, still a bit irked by that infuriating little girl.

"Indeed. Our Anima technology has allowed for us to establish contact with a world in an entirely new dimension. Once we lock in on our target, we can open the inter-dimensional gate and begin extraction," the now-named Byro explained in that odd drawl of his that was somewhat affected by a speech impediment.

"Target? Do you mean to tell me that you actually have a specific location in mind?" Faust asked with a cautious optimism.

"Not a location. An individual," the Chief of Staff said, a gleeful smile on his face.

"What? Are you saying that there is a single person with magical reserves high enough to register on your scanners from this new dimension?" Faust inquired, his interest piqued like never before.

"Yes, but I will say that the energy may not necessarily be magic..."

"What? But we need magic! I won't tolerate failure, Byro!" the King bellowed.

"Your Majesty... all is not lost. While there is the possibility of this world not having magic, that's a risk we will have to take. The power this world contains cannot be quantified. It is so densely saturated with energy that ordinarily it would be impossible to pinpoint any one verifiable point of origin. The only reason we have managed this much is because there's a person who has harnessed enough of this energy to register on our radar," Byro appeased, desperate to avoid any punishment.

He was not out of the woods yet.

"And in the event that this world does indeed lack magic? What then? Because based on what you've told me, that appears to be a very likely outcome," Faust said, pressing his Chief of Staff.

"Well, your Majesty... let us cross that bridge when we get to it," the short man hedged. Seeing as how he was so very fearful of punishment at the hands of his leader, it made sense that he wasn't willing to risk his neck making any promises for something that was, to put it simply, a crapshoot.

"Hmm... very well. Go about it as soon as possible," Faust commanded. "We can't dismiss such an opportunity. To acquire a potential source of limitless magic from a remote dimension... there are too many potential benefits to pass this up."

"Right away, your Majesty. Gushyu, gushyu..."

"Hold on there, Byro. I trust you have a contingency in place should this... ambitious plan of yours fail?"

"Naturally. We have a new target on standby in Earthland that will serve our purposes nicely until we initiate operation ETD–"

"Don't speak of that so freely, fool! You know better than that!" the King scolded, harshly cutting him off. "There is a reason I have only told you and three of my four division commanders of this. Don't make me regret it, my _Chief of Staff..."_

Byro gulped, nodding shakily. He was smart enough to realize why Faust had addressed him by his official title.

"Good. Dismissed. When we next meet, I expect good news."

"Of... of course, your Majesty. Until then," Byro said, gathering himself before he left the king's presence.

Faust sighed. Code ETD, entailing the destruction of all Exceed, was a sensitive plot if there ever was one. The importance of keeping it discreet couldn't be overstated. The most important thing, however, was that his First Captain, Pantherlily, remain unaware of such a plot.

While he may have been banished by his own kind (for helping a human: Faust's own _son_, the prince, at that), he may still have cared enough for them to oppose such a course of action. While it ultimately wouldn't have been too much trouble to have Erza take care of him, Faust much rather preferred to have the burly Exceed working for him.

Soon, he would have unlimited magic for the land of Edolas, and once he did... his dream of obtaining an ever-subsisting source of magic would finally be realized.

* * *

[|||]

(With Naruto — Valley of the End)

Sensing the approach of the final two members of Team 7, Naruto sighed. He knew he'd get some serious shit from his lone female teammate for this. While he had decided to deal with their final, wayward member once and for all, he knew that she just wanted everything to be amicable between the three of them. Of course, their rebellious teammate in Sasuke had absolutely no desire for such cordial relations for whatever reason.

Naruto, as of late, honestly couldn't care less; Sasuke could think or do whatever he wanted, it was tiring dealing with all of his shit. In the end, Sai was right... his two teammates, Sakura and Sasuke, only caused him unnecessary grief. It was a wonder he wasn't stressed out from all their nonsense.

Naruto was truly glad for the brief reprieve he had received in the form of that S-rank 'mission', where he had to examine the ecology of the Island Turtle in Kaminari no Kuni (the Land of Lightning). Sure, it was clear that it was a farce _now_, but at the time he wasn't about to overlook a potential vacation when he had been offered one, and the fact that he was assured to receive legitimate payment for said S-rank mission didn't hurt, either.

Although receiving pay equivalent to that of an S-rank mission for something so simple did register on Naruto's 'bullshit' scale, he wasn't one to turn down anything that would supplement his income; at the same time, he could say that he was in it for the downtime, primarily. Travelling there also satiated his thirst for adventure, seeing as how he and Jiraiya had been prevented from visiting the Island Turtle when he had first gone to Kaminari no Kuni during his training trip.

His forging of a friendship with Killer B only helped him enjoy the excursion all the more. When he learned of the war being fought on his behalf, though, the guilt and responsibility to end it himself had quickly consumed him to the point where he felt compelled to get himself involved.

Naruto wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation. The Five Kage had all decided to keep him and Killer Bee hidden away to 'protect' them, but it was he (and Bee, to a lesser extent) who helped end the war. At the very least, the Island Turtle served as the training ground where he finally harnessed his tailed beast's power, so there was that.

He was snapped out of his reverie when he heard Sasuke's rasping cough, which had reminded him of what he had to do next.

"Sasuke..." he began, wondering what it was he was going to say to his former teammate. The bastard had always sought to fulfill his own agenda, regardless of the consequences.

"You know, I'd find your determination to be a bit more admirable if it wasn't so obvious that you were only in it for yourself. What you said you'd do... I've never heard anything more selfish. To want such a sad, shitty future for not only the Shinobi World as a whole, but also you yourself... are you really so far gone that you'd want such a thing to occur?"

"...Yes," Sasuke said unwaveringly, albeit after a significant pause. "That... is my vision of what a Hokage _should_ be. One who walks in the darkness and absorbs all the hatred... _alone."_

"I see," Naruto said, his eyes half-lidded but closely observing his rival lying prone on his back, defeated, but as proud as ever.

This fight had truly opened his eyes. He knew he could no longer just put his head down and bulldoze through all of his obstacles like he once had. He could no longer overlook Sasuke's misdeeds and be so damn forgiving of the perpetually antagonistic Uchiha.

It was with that last thought that he moved next to Sasuke, actively channeling chakra into and through the two markings on his palms as he made his approach to the stock-still shinobi.

"Rikudō — Chibaku Tensei (Six Paths — Heavenly Body Bursting from the Earth)," he intoned, placing the palms of his hands on both sides of Sasuke's head.

"Wh-what?! Naruto! Are you... sealing me?!" the onyx-haired youth shouted in disbelief.

"Yeah. You wanted to live forever, in a ridiculous attempt to control this world... . Someone like you, who seeks nothing but absolute control... you're no different from Madara and Kaguya!" Naruto snapped, comparing him to both the modern-day patriarch of the Uchiha clan as well as the strange woman who had wanted nothing more than to subjugate the world through the use of a massive illusion.

"I think sharing the same fate as someone who committed the same sins as you is appropriate... so I'm going to make sure that you spend a good amount of time in orbit, just like Kaguya. Enjoy your 'darkness'."

The difference, though, was that Kaguya was sealed in a moon in her own dimension, so at the very least, the veritable space prison Sasuke was bound for would be orbiting the world in their own dimension.

"_What?! _No! Naruto! Shit man, don't _do_ this!" the Uchiha solicited, pleading piteously, but the Uzumaki would not be moved.

Suddenly, the representation of the Yin and Yang markings developed within Sasuke's right eye socket. The implementation of the Yin and Yang chakra of the Six Paths to the gravitational technique also had the benefit of sealing the victim's dōjutsu (in this case, Sasuke's Sharingan) as well as his ability to manipulate chakra.

Before long, the Yin and Yang markings had completely enveloped the last Sharingan eye in existence, leaving Sasuke as blind as a bat, and bereft of his chakra.

"Naruto! Undo this! I... I don't deserve this! Please!" Sasuke implored, outright begging at this point.

"No," Naruto said, "and since I'm the only one who knows of this, nobody but I can break this seal." And he had no intention of doing anything of the sort. ...Not anytime soon, anyway.

Pausing, he peered at his direct counterpart, his rival in many respects, and could only shake his head at the way he had forced things to end between them. As the earth and various other debris was pulled towards the gravitational core with Sasuke at its center, Naruto stared unblinkingly.

"Goodbye, Sasuke."

"Argh! Naruto! Don't do this! Don't _do_ this!"

His desperate shrieks were not only heard by the young man who had begun sealing him, but by their third teammate and by their squad leader, as well.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" came the familiar voice of the second apprentice of Tsunade, their lone female team member, Haruno Sakura. By her side was their jōnin sensei, the ever-unflappable Hatake Kakashi.

Sakura was a young woman who, at seventeen, was the same age as both Sasuke and Naruto. She had bright pink, shoulder-length hair and jade green eyes. On her forehead was a diamond-shaped marking denoting the Byakugō no In (Strength of a Hundred Seal), which identified her as a kunoichi with impeccable chakra control. Her figure, while slender and not as pronounced as some women as far as the more prominent of the female secondary sex characteristics were concerned (in other words, she had a small bust), was still quite feminine and curvy in her own right (thanks to her slim waist and attractive, wide hips).

Her current attire did not serve to accentuate her physical features, though, as she was wearing the standard shinobi uniform of the village of Konoha, which was unflattering and baggy on her lean frame. Without her flak jacket, which had been discarded in their fight against Kaguya, she appeared rather disheveled: her clothes were torn and frayed, in particular the right sleeve of her shirt, which was ripped off entirely.

Kakashi, a relatively tall man with spiky silver hair and dark eyes, was wearing the standard jōnin attire with a black shirt, pants (which were taped off at the cuffs) and sandals, as well as the forest green flak jacket donned by Konoha shinobi. He also had the new forehead protector of the joint Shinobi Army and his signature black face mask, which hid the lower half of his face from view, as well as black gloves with armor plating and the typical kunai and shuriken holsters on his leg and waist, respectively.

"Sakura-chan... Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto replied, barely turning over his right shoulder in their direction in order to regard them coolly with a sidelong gaze. The right side of his profile was visible to them, his lone, piercing blue eye scrutinizing them.

"So you've won," Kakashi said stating the obvious, appearing to be as nonchalant as ever, but Naruto knew him well enough to know that he was clearly concerned at the events that had transpired once they had defeated Kaguya.

Sakura was speechless at what she saw of Sasuke. "Naruto... wh-what happened? I..."

"I'm sorry, guys, but this is the way it has to be," the blond said firmly. They both were more than smart enough to infer what he meant by that, especially after seeing the pathetic state Sasuke was in. He was covered in Shukaku's cursed seal markings, which itself utilized a magnetic field to bind its target, and was also surrounded by debris after being further sealed with Chibaku Tensei.

"What are you going to do?" Kakashi asked.

"I was always too lenient when it came to Sasuke," Naruto said. "Even when he became a wanted man, first by Kumogakure and Old Man Raikage for attacking Uncle Bee, and then by every major Shinobi village by leading an attack on the Five Kage Summit, I still defended him."

Seeing his sensei and teammate listening raptly to his little monologue, he continued, saying, "I let that crazy Kumo girl beat the _shit_ out of me rather than sell him out. I begged... _begged_ Old Man Raikage to forgive him, even when we all thought he killed the man's own _brother!_ Oh, and I haven't even mentioned that he joined the fucking Akatsuki! Y'know, the ninjas who wanted me dead for _years!"_

Seeing the looks of surprise on Sakura and Kakashi's faces made him realize that he was just as surprised as they were. Naruto didn't even realize he had been holding this stuff in; he thought he'd stopped doing this shit when he visited the Falls of Truth on the Island Turtle.

"And now," he continued, "after all this, how do you think everyone will react when it gets out that he tried to have the Five Kage _killed?_ That he wanted to basically follow in Madara and Kaguya's footsteps?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke sadly, who was almost entirely engulfed by the rocky terrain in the form of a large sphere. "I know, Naruto... I had my doubts when he showed up to fight in the war, too. But... isn't this too much?! Please, I..."

"Sakura-chan... in the end, you always did love Sasuke, didn't you?" Naruto asked rhetorically, taking the opportunity to interject when the pink-haired girl trailed off. As he did this, he turned fully towards the imprisoned Sasuke, his back facing Sakura and Kakashi.

Sakura didn't answer, her head down as tears trickled down her nose out of her glistening green eyes, which were clenched shut.

"I'm sorry... I have always loved you too, you know," Naruto said, his voice taking on a nostalgic tone. "No matter what, I always wanted you to be happy. But, for someone who's so smart... you can be so _dumb_ sometimes, you know? It's stupid how you won't stop loving someone who brings you nothing but pain and grief. He's always hurt you, always upset you, always failed you, but you still love him. Why?"

Sakura could not answer that question.

"I asked myself that same question about you, though, too," Naruto said. "Not about those things exactly, but about why I always loved you. Deep down, I'll always care for you. You supported me for so long, I could never hate you. Even though you loved him, you still had some feelings for me; even I could tell that much. It was why I didn't give up on pursuing you.

"Sasuke didn't give you anything like that, though, did he? Seeing you put yourself through so much, seeing you suffer because you can't move on and love someone else, love _me_..." Naruto sighed. "I don't want to do that to myself. I don't want to put myself through that heartache."

The tears were now streaming down her face, and despite rubbing at her eyes, the flow did not slow down much at all.

Her tears did stall out of surprise, though, when Naruto turned in the direction of both Kakashi and Sakura herself, peering at them with his incongruous eyes. In his left eye socket was none other than Sasuke's Rinnegan.

Kakashi was the first to give voice to his shock. "Naruto... you took Sasuke's eye?!"

Naruto didn't answer, his eyes lowered at the reminder of what was to come next.

Sakura was stunned speechless. The blond's next words, though, managed to evoke a response from the pink-haired apprentice of Tsunade.

"I'm going to seal away Sasuke."

Sakura gasped, more out of surprise than anything else. The boy who made that promise to her just a few years ago, the one who kept faith in Sasuke even when she had lost it, was gone. In his place was a young man who seemed to have realized the importance of making the tough decisions for the greater good.

"While I'm doing this for the future of the shinobi world at large, to prevent him from ever violating the peace we have finally built, I'm also doing this for selfish reasons; for _our_ sakes, to end our heartbreak. Sasuke won't hurt you anymore, Sakura-chan. You will live happily with whoever it is you want, and we won't have to suffer from anymore of his selfish actions, trying to do damage control whenever he does something stupid."

Naruto was firm in what he had decided. He wouldn't let Sasuke jeopardize the budding peace that the Elemental Nations was on the verge of building.

"Naruto..." Sakura whimpered, but Kakashi put a firm, but consoling hand on her shoulder. He had long decided to support his sensei's son, who had proven himself to be a man even greater than his legendary father.

The jōnin couldn't have been more proud of his student.

"Your parents would be proud of the man you've become, Naruto," Kakashi praised.

Naruto cracked a mirthless smile at the compliment. "Strangely enough, you won't love me for this, Sakura, even if this ends up giving you a much better outlook for your life. Girls are weird like that..." he said, chuckling ruefully.

"But... I've realized that even if you did want me, it would only be because Sasuke would be gone. In the end, I would only be second place in your heart. Before all this, before the war, I don't know... maybe I would have been okay with that. It would have been kinda weird and pathetic, but I still may have done it, if it meant being with you."

Sakura, despite always rejecting his advances, couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of admiration for the blond, for his ability to speak frankly about these things. Where others would be reserved or reticent, he was upfront and candid about it all.

"And now, after seeing all this, I'm afraid that I have too much pride," the blond said. "I can't settle for second to anybody, especially Sasuke, even if it comes to you, Sakura-chan. I still care for you, and perhaps I always will, but... I have to look out for myself, too."

Naruto paused, sensing the gradual approach of multiple chakra signatures. They were all familiar; they must be led by a tracker or something. Given the fact that these pursuers were still quite a ways from Team Seven's current position, which was the Valley of the End, Naruto knew that it would take some time for whoever was coming to arrive. It was time to wrap things up.

"In the end, Sasuke chose to do this," Naruto said, further justifying his reasoning behind sealing away Sasuke. "He chose this path; he could have returned home to Konoha peacefully, his crimes pardoned thanks to him being a war hero after helping us stop Madara and then Kaguya. But it wasn't enough. More, more, more. He always wanted _more_." He sighed.

"It's time to finally end this."

As he raised his hand, clenching his fist to ensure the spheroid rock formation imprisoning Sasuke was as compact as possible, the sphere of earth rose up into the air above them, now complete and ready for the final step.

Using his newly procured Rinnegan, Naruto made use of its ability to manipulate gravitational forces to propel the spherical mass into orbit. Once it was there, he finally relaxed, shutting his eye as the recently acquired orb throbbed painfully in his eye socket. 'Goodbye, Sasuke...'

Plopping himself down on the ground with a hiss, Naruto laid spread eagle in an effort to stretch his tired muscles out, feeling incredibly exhausted; he closed his new left eye, feeling the chakra it was siphoning off ramp down significantly at the action.

"...I doubt he survived that," Kakashi observed from his place next to him. Sakura had stepped away, clearly grieving. When Naruto turned his one-eyed gaze toward her, Kakashi decided to counsel him.

"Give her some time," his jōnin sensei said soothingly. "While she knows you did the right thing, she still loved him. Let her mourn."

Naruto almost scoffed, a bit bitter at how, after all this time, she still loved him that much. He felt like a fool; even in death (or practical obscurity), Sasuke still took precedence over him in Sakura's heart.

His pitiable thoughts were all but forgotten, though, when he looked skyward, taking note of the latest development in what had become the most insane day of his already hectic life.

There was a goddamned _hole_ in the sky.

Dark cumulonimbus clouds had begun forming in a wide, far-reaching circle over the valley they were currently in. The sky, which just moments before had been a clear, resplendent blue evocative of a typically beautiful sunny day, had in the blink of an eye become filled with a gathering of roiling, tempestuous dark clouds.

When an acute feeling of lethargy started to encompass his entire being, Naruto started to feel panicked. His feeling of dread only intensified when he noticed that the rumbling thunder of the storm clouds coordinated with the painful pulses of a foreign energy within his body.

This, he realized with a dawning horror, was no coincidence.

When he felt it latch onto Kurama's chakra, Naruto gagged, heaving in pain. What the hell was going on? Was this... _thing_... trying to take the Kyūbi from him?

'Ku... Kurama!'

**"Hang on, Naruto," **his lifelong companion said calmly, with nary a hint of panic in his voice. "**I can't resist this, but by spreading my chakra through your body, I can force this thing to take you as well. At the very least, we won't be separated, so you'll survive."**

Naruto didn't relax until he felt the warmth of Kurama's chakra running through the entirety of his body, but even then he was on the verge of freaking out, desperately trying to figure out what the hell this was.

"Naruto... are you seeing this?" Kakashi asked, unable to mask the pure, unadulterated awe his voice indicated he was feeling.

"Oi... Kakashi... sensei..."

"Hm?" Kakashi didn't realize what had happened, occupied as he was with the empyrean phenomenon occurring directly above both him and his student. When he took in the adolescent blond's form, his eyes widened in horror.

Naruto was _disappearing._

His form was bathed in an ethereal, golden light not unlike his Rikudō Sennin Mōdo (Six Paths Sage Mode), although Kakashi could tell immediately that this was not just his Sage Mode. The blond's form was inconsistent, incessantly flickering between transparency and continuity.

"Sakura! Get over here, NOW!" the silver-haired jōnin yelled. "Naruto's in trouble!"

In a flash, the pink-haired girl was by their side, running her hands over the blond's fading frame, the pale green glow of the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) enveloping her hands. While the jutsu did its job, soothing and eventually removing his pain, it did nothing to stall the inevitable. Naruto was fading away, and the process was torturously slow.

"Naruto..." Sakura whispered. "Don't die... please. Not you too..."

At this point, Sakura was keen enough to realize what the end result of all this would be. Tears were running down to the lowest part of her face angled downwards (her nose) before falling rapidly to the ground. Her chakra almost depleted, she settled for clenching her fists on her lap, helpless to prevent this unforeseen situation.

"Sakura... despite everything... even my stupid feelings... you... you're still my best friend. You kept me grounded, you looked out for me, you and Kakashi-sensei..."

Pausing briefly as Sakura let out a choked sob, Naruto continued. "I'm not dying, but... I don't know what's happening to me. Tell them I'll be fine... Tsunade-baachan, Shizune-neechan, Uncle Bee, the rest of the Konoha Eleven, and everyone else... tell them..."

At this point, he began to float in the air, as if the sky was trying to suck him in. The ominous clouds had now formed a funnel, a veritable spotlight shining on its target, one Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura, in her desperation, hugged Naruto close to her body; Kakashi, feeling helpless, struggled to even move.

The jōnin sensei, himself almost brought to tears at the inevitability of his student's impending departure, placed his hand on Naruto's head, which rested on Sakura's shoulder. To his surprise, Naruto smiled at him. "Sensei... Sakura-chan... don't cry. The world is finally at peace. I've accomplished... Ero-sennin's dream. And I'll... I'll be back..."

And with that, Uzumaki Naruto evanesced, departing from the Elemental Nations as if he were an angelic being, dissolving into a mass of golden particles that were promptly funnelled into the hole in the sky.

Moments later, the billowing aperture closed up, the shadowed clouds dissipating as if they were never there, leaving the sky as clear as ever. Horror-struck, Kakashi and Sakura could only stare distantly at the sky, equally catatonic at the horrendous sequence of events that had taken place.

With the departure of both Naruto and Sasuke, and with the Elemental Nations now bereft of the transmigrant lines of succession from both Asura and Indra respectively, Sakura and Kakashi could only lament what had happened, remaining where they were until they were found by their fellow Allied Shinobi a short time later.

* * *

**And there we have it, the opening chapter of my maiden work of fan-fiction. I don't know if other first time authors feel this way, but this feels like a momentous occasion for me. Naturally, I'd love some feedback on this, ranging from adulatory to censorious, and any and all in-between. What did you like? Dislike? Let me know.**

**I'm just going to say straight up that you shouldn't expect any sort of frequency or consistency with updates for this and any other stories I upload here (and there will be others). Future instalments will be published intermittently, but they will come, rest assured. Having said all that, I am excited to see what sort of feedback this story will garner.**

**As for the story itself, I'd like to say that I like the way**** the fight between Naruto and Sasuke turned out here. ****When I was writing this, the possibility of Naruto sealing Sasuke occurred to me. I truly believe that this has not been done before; Naruto treating Sasuke as a second Madara or Kaguya and sealing him away? I fancy that to be something unique about my story.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**CS.**


	2. The Royal Kingdom of Edolas

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Royal Kingdom of Edolas**

* * *

Prince Jellal of the Royal Kingdom of Edolas was exhausted.

Masquerading as a reclusive mage of the light guild Fairy Tail, he had carved out quite the niche in Earthland in spite of his alien status. While the rowdy guild was an odd fit for one as hermitic as he, it did serve his purposes well; its reputation as Fiore's number one guild was quite helpful in that regard. Given his status as an S-Class mage of said guild, he had virtually no restrictions placed upon him. He wasn't one to abuse such a kindness, especially since Master Makarov had been altruistic enough to go out of his way to induct him into the guild; as a result, he did perform missions from time to time to supplement the guild's income. At the same time, though, he had free reign to leave the guild on an indefinite basis to do what he had set out to Earthland to accomplish.

Suppress and snuff out the perpetually encroaching magic that is _Anima_.

It was not just the deep-rooted nature of the interdimensional magic that had earned his ire, but what it represented: it was essentially a medium through which the King of Edolas could extend his fearmongering ways to other worlds. It was frightening to look back on, but the way things had deteriorated in his homeland should have served as a harbinger for what was to come.

At first, in his really early years, life was good. Magic wasn't plentiful, but it was sufficient enough that it was still a prominent staple in every household: light lacrimas, fuel lacrimas, the works. Magic was applicable in almost every aspect (and thus, almost every tool) of everyday life in Edolas, just like in Earthland.

Magical guilds were established, and given the fact that nobody had any inherent magic, almost anybody could (and usually would) seek membership. To join a guild, the only thing that was required was a tool or external apparatus to manipulate magic, or a skill or talent these organizations found to be useful. If anyone had a particularly valuable tool or skill, guilds would line up to recruit said individuals. As a result, the three largest guilds, Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and Lamia Scale, all had numbers easily eclipsing the century mark (Blue Pegasus' membership numbers were particularly impressive, given the fact that they were a bit more... selective, what with them only accepting women into their ranks); even the lesser guilds approached substantial numbers in their prime.

Things changed all too quickly, however, as a precipitous drop from what had become the norm took place without any warning.

In hindsight, it was easy to say that exhausting a commodity that was finite in quantity, particularly a resource as valuable as magic, was a recipe for disaster, but nobody was willing to even think about such a harrowing prospect. Everyone was more than happy to remain in ignorant bliss, ensconced in the paradise that was a world of 'abundant' magic. The reality of it, though, which was that Edolas was a world whose magic stores were near depletion, had hit them hard.

However, the King, along with his advisors, were not so naïve. As a child, Jellal remembered seeing his father's grim face, his heavy eyes revealing his exhaustion at his tireless efforts to curb the wasting of the Kingdom's magic. He had brought in scientists and the land's leading experts and innovators to collaborate and help develop newer, more efficient ways to utilize magic; ones that would, at the very least, delay the inevitable.

When those avenues had failed, though, things changed drastically. King Faust, furious at their collective helplessness in the face of what was shaping up to be an out-and-out disaster, completely eschewed the diplomatic approach in resolving the problem. The fact that he was practically the only one who seemed to be overly concerned with the impending disaster certainly didn't help.

In their desperation to maintain their way of life with magic after threatening to completely exhaust what little magic the land of Edolas had, the Kingdom of Edolas, under the instructions of his father, had systematically cracked down upon anything and everything that were deemed to be frivolous and improvident uses of magic. The primary culprit of these were the guilds that had been so popular when the era of magic was at its peak. Thus, the order had come down for all magic guilds to disband posthaste.

Predictably, a great majority of the guilds had disbanded when the King's decree had been made, not seeing the point maintaining their operations when the world's magic seemed to be in steep decline. Outlawing the formation of guilds altogether was an unnecessary step, in Jellal's opinion, but it was not an opinion that was considered. The blue-haired young man suspected that such an action had vindictive undertones to it, as if his father had done it as an undue form of punishment toward the guilds, perceiving their existence as a symbol of the widespread corruption in the kingdom.

Apparently, the major guilds had come to a similar conclusion as he did, for they had refused to acquiesce to what they believed to be an absurd directive, citing the fact that guilds were more than just places to learn, practice and use magic; as a matter of fact, they considered themselves to be bona fide communities.

The stern ruler of Edolas was not amused by this response, to say the least. In his displeasure at their 'insolence', he responded to their mutinous replies by having his armies, which consisted of his most powerful and resourceful soldiers, blitz the rebellious guilds with an overwhelming fervor. The lethal and violent nature of the Royal Kingdom's retaliation to what was mistakenly perceived as an insurrectionary response on the part of the guilds had prompted a veritable exodus of would-be mages from Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and Lamia Sale, reducing their once-formidable numbers to a small fraction of what they once were. Their sparse numbers made it all the more easy for Edolas' monarchy to hunt them down, using their elite agents as a proxy in their endeavours. There was no mercy for those offenders; even in the case of capitulation, only death awaited those who had become 'dark mages'. Jellal could thus understand why the formerly legal guilds had gone into hiding, knowing that with their vastly reduced numbers, there wasn't much hope in directly confronting the Royal Kingdom.

All too soon, all but one of the guilds had been eradicated, leaving Fairy Tail as the lone active guild (albeit as a dark one, given their fugitive status). While a small part of him thought it amusing that he himself had joined Earthland's version of Fairy Tail (since their 'lawbreaking' counterparts in Edolas had proven to be a thorn in his father's side, much like he himself was), it was still a sobering thought that the Anima technology had come about after his power-hungry father had found that prohibiting the use of magic within the Kingdom _still_ wasn't enough.

Stopping the accused main offenders of the 'misuse' of magic wouldn't miraculously restore that which has already been depleted; the fact that the Royal City was still, to this day, wastefully spending magic when the a great majority of rest of Edolas was deprived of it clearly didn't register with the delusional King that was, to Jellal's eternal shame, of his immediate family.

The Anima generating machine had been constructed in secret; unveiled during a Royal Council meeting, it had been presented as a means to procure more magic. At the time, it had been met with near unanimous approval; even Jellal himself, who had taken to sitting in on those meetings in his capacity as heir to the throne, had thought it to be a viable solution, foolishly believing his father had finally abandoned his violent practices.

The horror he had felt when he learned that this was not the case could not be put into words.

Upon learning of the true nature of the interdimensional magic, the blue-haired youth had, without hesitation, reversed course, vehemently disagreeing with the implementation of the Anima plan; when it consumed magic from Earthland, it did so at the cost of human _lives_, mages or otherwise, he had argued. There had to be a better, more peaceable solution.

Naturally, he had been rebuffed; nobody else had any qualms about the consequences that magic would have on innocent lives. He had an ally in Pantherlily, the Exceed who had saved his life when he was a child, but the unusually burly Exceed had apologetically stood aside, unable to go as far as he did for a population he never even knew existed (and even if he did know, he obviously wouldn't be too concerned for their well-being). The King, however, had sneered at his son, telling him to shape up as would be expected of his heir.

The ensuing argument had been the latest in the conflicts between father and son, with Faust's unrepentant decision to utilize the interdimensional magic being the straw that broke the camel's back. With that, a young Jellal had fled the palace, impulsively using the very same Anima generating machine he had wanted to put out of commission to manually transport himself to Edolas' parallel universe to protect the citizens of Earthland himself.

It was to the blue-haired teen's great shame that he was reduced to opposing his old man in such a roundabout fashion rather than directly in a more straightforward manner, but it couldn't be helped. As King, his father was practically untouchable, even more so when one considered that the self-exiled prince would be opposing said power-hungry father on his own, before he'd even reached full maturity, all the while opposed by a Royal Army who served his estranged father with nigh-unquestionable loyalty.

Yeah, it was clear that closing Anima was the best path for him to take for the time being.

It was a bit depressing, though, when he thought deeply on the matter. How long would he have to keep doing this? Running across the countryside of Fiore (which had accurately been identified by the technicians and scientists working on the Anima project as the region with the highest concentration of magic in Earthland), desperately closing portal after portal… . He had been at this for six, going on seven years. At the rate he was going, it was clear that there was no end in sight.

It was his greatest fear that Faust would one day become fed up enough to generate an Anima so large that even he would be helpless to stop it, or even worse, develop a spell even _more_ powerful than Anima. Jellal shuddered at the mere thought of a magic more formidable than _that_. The Anima, while a powerful spell that formed an interdimensional gate with an incredibly high success rate, were still successfully suppressed by him more often than not, despite their being an absolute bitch to handle at times.

Having realized that his time in Earthland would not be short by any means, Jellal had taken on the pseudonym Mystogan to add a level of discretion to the activities he undertook as an interloper of the magically profusive world. The fact that there was a literal clone of him in this universe as well had, on top of that, compelled him to conceal his face, what with him not wanting any misunderstandings with a certain scarlet-haired mage.

Jellal sighed. In the end, he was always out of place. This was naturally case here in Earthland, considering his foreign origins, but even back home at the Royal City Palace, he had felt like an outsider, going through the motions as the Crown Prince of Edolas. He had no friends; currently, this could be attributed to his own actions and his own reclusive nature, but back then his royal pedigree had prevented him from forging any sort of relationship with those outside of the castle. Even within the castle, any relationships were strictly formal and/or professional; with that kind of upbringing, it was no wonder he was so antisocial.

At least now, though, he wasn't cooped up in some castle, trying to conform to what his delusional father thought to be an ideal, obedient prince. Now, as an exile, he was freer than he'd ever dreamed of being, traversing the expansive country of Fiore within the massive world that is Earthland.

But…

"Another Anima…" he muttered under his breath, exhaling as he spied the rapidly developing circular cloud formation in the northern plains of Fiore. It was at a distance from where he currently was at the westernmost portion of the country, which itself was on the westernmost peninsula of Earthland.

The tireless mage sighed. His work never ended.

* * *

[|||]

(Meanwhile — In Edolas)

"Gushyu, gushyu… I have most splendid news, your Majesty," Byro said, kicking off the meeting of the Royal Council, which had convened in anticipation of what was shaping up to be one of the bigger events to take place in Edolas in quite some time.

Seated at a rectangular table that was quite small for that of a council room, the King and his closest subordinates had all gathered, awaiting news of Byro's revolutionary application of their vaunted Anima magic. While the table could conceivably seat as many as eight people, there were only seven high-backed chairs, with the King himself at the head of the table.

His Chief of Staff, Byro, sat at his immediate left, a seat usually occupied by the individual at the focal point of the meeting aside from Faust himself. Directly across from him sat the beautiful Erza Knightwalker, a well-endowed young woman who had long, wavy scarlet-red hair and dark-brown eyes. She was wearing quite the revealing outfit, with a top that was essentially an armored bra. She also had light-armored greaves and gauntlets on her legs and forearms, respectively, along with a navy-blue scarf around her neck and a dark bikini bottom, which was covered by a white cloth secured to the belt on her hips. She wore a constant stern expression befitting her status as the Commander of the Second Magic War Division of the Royal Army.

Beside her sat Hughes, the light-hearted Third Magic War Division Commander of the Edolas Royal Army. The playful young man had messy, dark-purple hair that had a rather odd colouration on the bangs (which were long enough to cover his forehead) on the right side of his head, which were snow-white. His eccentricities were on full display as far as his facial appearance was concerned, with him having stylized his eyebrows into arrow shapes not unlike those seen on the hands of a clock. He had on white pants, brown shoes, a dark-green shirt with an olive-green, criss-crossing line pattern design, and a long white coat with gold trim, a high collar, and epaulettes that were black and gold in colour, denoting his status as a military commander.

Next to him was the First Magic War Division Commander of the King's Royal Army, an Exceed who was unlike any of his breed: Pantherlily. With a tall, muscular build similar to that of a human's, the only distinguishing feature that differentiated him from an actual human was his cat-like appearance. Looking like, for all intents and purposes, a bipedal panther, Pantherlily had black fur, a white muzzle with similarly coloured whiskers, and red eyes. He was wearing a set of battle armor that was silver in colour, with a pale gold cloak and a visored, roman-style helmet with golden fur along its crown.

Across from the burly Exceed was the Fourth Magic War Division Commander, Sugarboy, a man with an appearance as absurd as his name. Although tall, he wore his blond hair in an ostentatious pompadour-style, with the sideburns stretching down towards his jawline. He had blue eyes and a prominent, pointy nose with a cleft chin, and was wearing a reddish-pink armored top with matching gauntlets and greaves, gold chain mail underneath said armor, black briefs in lieu of pants, and a large white cloak emblazoned with the insignia of Edolas.

The seat in between the diminutive Chief of Staff and the Fourth Division Commander on the left side of the table was vacant, with no one wanting to sit next to the repulsive old man. Even Coco, who had zoomed into the meeting room, had situated herself in between Pantherlily and Hughes, although she occasionally raced around the room from time to time.

"Let's hear it, Byro. I take it you were successful in extracting that potent source of magical energy?" King Faust asked knowingly.

"Yes, your Majesty," Byro said, as pleased as ever to deliver such good news to the king. His gleeful tone of voice was met with a disdainful scoff from Pantherlily, who found his overly obsequious behaviour to be more than a little annoying.

"Sycophant…"

His off-hand remark elicited a chuckle from Sugarboy, who was joined in his reserved laughter by Hughes. Even Erza smirked a little, for there was no denying the accuracy of the Exceed's assessment. While Coco gave an apologetic smile to her superior, obviously not desiring any conflict between those she had deemed to be her comrades, the wrinkled man only frowned. He let it pass, though, when the King gave him a pointed glare, silently telling him to get over himself and to get on with what he was saying.

"There were no malfunctions, your Majesty. The portal should open up into Edolas within the hour."

"And? How will you prevent my traitorous son from closing this Anima?" Faust asked. Nobody took note of the fact that Pantherlily's mouth twitched at the mention of the exiled prince.

"You overestimate his ability to close Anima, my King," Byro said. "This Anima portal is extremely large, not to mention that it has opened up in an entirely different world. As precocious as your son is–" this prompted a snarl from the surly king, "–even _this_ is beyond him. And, on the off chance he can exert his influence on an Anima wholly unaffiliated with Earthland, we currently have multiple small Animas _in _Earthland to occupy him."

"Very well," the King said, somewhat pacified by the answer. "And if our newest source of magic proves to be a dead-end?"

"Again… we should reserve judgement for when we actually secure the target. I'll detail my contingency plans once I have him in my grasp… ngushushushu…"

"Hmm… I see," the King muttered. He then spoke aloud, saying, "Sugarboy, Erza, prepare for departure. Your task will be to bring this alien mage that Byro has secured to the castle. The Anima will most likely form on the other side of the continent, so take your Legion. Go."

"As you command," Sugarboy said with a small bow. Erza said nothing, giving only a stiff nod before leaving the room, the pompous man following shortly after her.

"Lily, Hughes… remain on standby for now. There will come a time soon when you both will be needed."

"Yes sir," Pantherlily said sternly; Hughes leapt out of his chair, shouting, "We'll be ready, your Majesty!"

Coco, who had been flitting about the room, was was quick to join the two as they left the room.

Alone with Byro once more, the ever-disgruntled King rose slowly and deliberately out of his arm chair. Byro, seeing this, made to stand from his own chair, correctly assuming that he would have to follow King Faust, seeing as how he was yet to be dismissed.

"Come, Byro. With us on the verge of a great influx of magical power, it's time we checked up on _Dorma Anim_ and ensure its operability. With unlimited magic, the Dragon Knight will be unstoppable. Everyone, especially those accursed Exceeds, will wilt before my power…"

As they made their way towards the dungeon-like storage area where the mechanical dragon was held, the only sounds that could be heard in the deserted hallways were their plodding footsteps and Byro's depraved laughter.

* * *

[|||]

Lisanna Strauss was feeling pretty good about herself.

Having resided in the universe parallel to the one of her birth for the better part of the last two years, she had, for the most part, put her life in Earthland behind her, acclimatizing to what was essentially a world almost entirely opposite to the one she grew up in.

If she were to be quite honest with herself, it wasn't too difficult to blend in, both in theory (given her identical appearance to her Edolas counterpart) and in practice (with said counterpart having passed away shortly before her own arrival). After seeing the Edolas version of her siblings, Mirajane and Elfman, shedding tears of joy at her 'return', along with the joyful reception she received from the rest of the Edolas Fairy Tail, she was overwhelmed. Her kind nature ultimately proved to be a formidable obstacle, preventing her from confessing the truth. She couldn't bring herself to break their hearts, to tell them that she wasn't who she appeared to be.

So she stayed.

Despite her initial reluctance, she had taken to life in the magic-deprived world with an aplomb seldom seen out of her. Hiding her magic wasn't a task too tall for her by any stretch of the imagination, since she was unable to use it in the magic-depleted world to begin with. On top of that, she had no prowess whatsoever with magical tools or apparatuses, so she had taken on the role of barmaid/waitress, developing close relationships with her new guild mates. As time had worn on, she had taken to dressing herself for the part as well, clothing herself in a pale blue halter top with a spotted flower design and a long, white, revealing dress with a high slit that showed off her shapely legs, including the Fairy Tail insignia on her left thigh. She also had a purple sash around her waist, high-heeled sandals, and pristine, dainty white satin gloves that covered the majority of her forearms.

Apparently, her 'predecessor', as it were, had been quite fond of utilizing magic, so her new behaviour was met with some odd looks of concern, but she had easily explained away her behaviour by using the excuse of her wanting to recover from her injuries. They had bought it easily enough, but she knew that excuse wouldn't fly after she showed any signs of recovery. Eventually, she had just taken to saying that she had lost her motivation to use magic and go out on missions, which was an excuse that had been accepted easily enough. She herself had her own concerns about her new guild mates, though.

It had still taken her quite a bit of time to get used to the 'opposite' nature of these people, who were all virtual clones of her old comrades at Fairy Tail. Gray, who had always waltzed around in his underwear, was now always bundled up to the point of disbelief, wearing a minimum of three layers of clothing. Levy, who had been one of her closer friends in her youth with her warm and inviting personality, was, in Edolas, a brash and aggressive girl with a vulgar personality; needless to say, they weren't nearly as close, although they did have a healthy respect for one another.

Cana, who was a polar opposite of the card mage she knew from back home, was someone she found to be very much approachable due to her polite and demure behaviour and classy countenance. While she did find it a bit odd that she'd get along with both versions of the brunette so well, it was no less a pleasant surprise.

Even her two 'siblings' were so very different from what her two legitimate siblings were. While her brother, Elfman, was timid and shy like the Edolas version, that was more out of a depression that he wasn't as proficient in his takeover magic as she and their eldest sister, Mirajane, were. He certainly wasn't a crybaby by any stretch of the imagination; she wasn't willing to say this aloud, but Lisanna did find it a bit exhausting to have to protect this Edolas Elfman from the bullying of _Jet and Droy_, of all people.

The differences between the two versions of her big sister, Mirajane, was a huge shock as well. The Earthland dweller's aggressive and domineering personality, combined with her somewhat distrusting nature, made for quite the comparison to the Edolas resident's undertaking of a more mother figure-like role to the guild, with a kind, nurturing disposition indicative of such a role. While Lisanna would swear up and down with the utmost vehemence that she loved her badass sister, _this_ version of her eldest sibling was kind of… nice.

Natsu, however, was the biggest surprise of all.

Natsu Dragneel was her best friend from back home, the person she was closest to in the guild aside from her two elder siblings. They weren't all that close when they were in their prepubescent years, but they had become friends one day out of the blue when she had offhandedly complimented dragons, which was a genuine sentiment given her fascination with all things animals. They had further bonded when Natsu had found the egg that would eventually hatch into Happy. While Natsu could be a bit reckless and overconfident, he was fiercely loyal and cared deeply for his friends.

Natsu Dragion was another story. He was cowardly and reticent, and while his personality was closer to the confidence his counterpart exhibited when Dragion got behind the wheel, he was more of a condescending, arrogant jerk when operating his precious vehicles. Part of Lisanna found that amusing, mostly because Earthland's Natsu couldn't _stand_ transportation; it seemed neither of the two were good with transportation, one for behavioural reasons, and the other for physiological ones. Even so, she couldn't help but be protective of the pink-haired boy despite all of his faults; seeing such a pathetic, miserable look on _that_ face was enough to compel one as kindhearted as her to look out for him.

All too suddenly, Lisanna had her musings interrupted by her elder sister, who gave her a reproachful look for zoning out.

"Lisanna, pay attention," Mirajane admonished. "We don't have time to lollygag. It's not safe outside of the guild."

The two of them were currently out on a sort of excursion, travelling not too far from where their guild was currently located, which was quite a bit north of the town of Louen, past the mountainous region. The two girls were out alone in the surprisingly abundant thicket of trees, which itself was almost like a miniature forest, looking to spend some time together 'bonding' while at the same time tending to a neglected need for the guild. They were foraging for herbs to be used primarily for medicinal purposes. When there was a plentiful amount, however, they were occasionally utilized for other purposes, such as nutriment and sustenance. Usually, though, they were dried and preserved for future use in medical applications. While such practices could be considered a bit unsophisticated, given their fugitive status and the dangers being a dark guild entailed, every little bit helped.

Lisanna looked down at her little handbasket, which was practically empty. While it would be easy (and accurate) to attribute such a pitiful showing in gathering herbs to her preoccupied thoughts, she would be the first to admit that she wasn't really good at things like this to begin with. While she was glad to be learning how to do little things like this, it wasn't something that she would be grasping anytime soon.

"Right, Mira-nee. Sorry," Lisanna said apologetically.

Mirajane giggled, mollified by the sincerity in the girl's tone. "No need to apologize, you know. It's all right to ruminate from time to time, although your timing of it leaves a lot to be desired. I am curious as to what you were thinking about, though."

Lisanna blushed, unwilling to make any mention of the fact that she was thinking of her old life.

"Uh… w-well… you see, ah…"

Mirajane giggled once more. "It sounds like you're hiding something~!"

"I-It's nothing," Lisanna said, although her denial wasn't convincing by any stretch of the imagination. Naturally, her shrewd sister picked up on it.

"Oh? Now I'm _really _curious. Ooh, is it a boy?!"

"Mi-Mira-nee!" Lisanna shouted, flushing once more, this time at the wildly inaccurate guess. One thing she missed about her real sister was that she would _never_ talk about things like boys with her. She was a bona fide badass who couldn't be bothered to talk about those kind of things. It was _so_ embarrassing, because while this sweet incarnation of her sister was a welcome and unique change, she was still so… _girly_. That wasn't really a bad thing, but it _was_ strange. Her sister, _Demon Mira_, a girly girl? Absurd. But that's exactly what this Mirajane was.

On top of that, Lisanna didn't really have romantic prospects of any sort, similarly to a lot of the members of the guild. It was a depressing thought, especially since the only person she could have possibly developed anything meaningful with to this point in her life was now literally in another world. She did cut herself some slack, though, given the fact that, despite his youth, the boy she had at one point fancied in Natsu was quite ignorant in matters regarding anything remotely romantic.

"Haah… let's just finish up, okay sis?" she asked wearily, sighing as she began to feel more than a little despondent at her fading hopes at finding anything even slightly resembling a relationship built upon romantic foundations.

While she had resolved to live out the remainder of her days in Edolas, an even more depressing thought had occurred to her: it was looking more and more like she wouldn't be able to realize her dream of getting married, let alone to a man she loved. With having to live on the run as a member of a dark guild, she couldn't really go out and meet new people, which was something she had greatly enjoyed doing when taking missions with her elder brother and sister back in Earthland. Being unable to do that here in Edolas, she was restricted to just mingling with her guild mates, which she had done to such a degree that she had legitimately befriended almost everyone in the guild. Unfortunately, it was through these frequent interactions with her guild mates that she had gleaned enough to know that none of the men there were anything close to her type.

…Not that she _had_ a type. She had had a crush on _Natsu,_ for goodness' sake. That wasn't indicative of anything, as far as she was concerned. It was just a crush, after all.

The fact of the matter was, she just couldn't envision herself dating anyone in this Edolas version of Fairy Tail. They all had some weird or strange quirk that stuck out to the point where it was difficult for even an understanding girl like her to overlook.

"Hmm…" Mirajane said looking at her. After a moment of quiet scrutinization, she agreed. "Okay, let's get back. There hasn't been much for us to get here anyway," she said, referring to the sparse quantities of herbs available in the portion of the woods they had been foraging in.

Once they had emerged from the forest, they were able to see the guild hall's location clearly without any obstructions, located at the base of the mountain range.

Just when they were about to make the relatively short five minute trek back to the mobile guild hall, there was a faint rumbling in the sky almost directly above the white-haired duo. All too quickly, an incredibly large hole opened up in the sky, with the puffy white cumulus clouds forming a strange funnel-like configuration. It was as if that portion of the sky had literally vacated itself in order to serve some purpose.

It became all too apparent what this purpose was when the two sisters noticed the almost imperceptible silhouette of a figure emerge from the unnatural cloud formation. Soon enough, the faint profile of the person developed in their visions into that of a man who was free-falling in rapid fashion, seemingly hellbent on a violent collision with the ground.

So shocked were they that, given their inability to act, that was exactly what happened.

The crash was a lot worse than what she would have hoped it would be. There was a crater, after all, and although said crater wasn't very deep, the man's fall was profound enough to have formed one.

Lisanna was paralyzed in fear, shock, and worry. Was this guy alright? Did he survive? _Could_ he have survived?

Overcoming her brief bout of paralysis, the white-haired girl rushed down towards the individual's side, falling to her knees to check on the crumpled form of what indeed appeared to be a young man with blond hair and tattered orange and black clothes, his upper body garbed in a strange, mesh-like armor. When she gingerly turned him onto his back, she let out an audible gasp. His face was bruised and bloodied to a horrific extent, and his left eye was partially swollen shut. He had blond hair which was unkempt and wavy, although it was not that long, and his clothes were barely adequate. To put it simply, it looked like he had been put through the wringer.

"Is he alive?" Mirajane calmly asked, kneeling on the opposite side of the young man.

Lisanna looked at his chest, which was rising and falling steadily despite all he had been through. "He's breathing," she affirmed.

Mirajane checked for a pulse, frowning when it took her longer than it should have. "His pulse is very faint. He needs immediate medical attention," she said, with an absolute seriousness that frightened the short-haired girl. "Agreed?"

After hesitating briefly, Lisanna nodded her agreement emphatically. "Of course!"

"Good," the long-haired woman said, a soft smile on her face. "We can help him, but… what could have happened to him to cause this? Where did he come from?"

'From Earthland, like me,' Lisanna thought, a pensive frown on her face. "I don't know," was the answer she gave her sister.

When the boy took in a deep breath, she had thought he would awaken, but he did not. The sudden action drew her attention to his muscular chest once more, which, in spite of the light mesh armor, was still clearly defined. She blushed when she took in his form; he was actually quite attractive.

'Is… is this some sort of sign?' she asked herself, looking at the bruised and bloodied blond. Sure, it was a stupid question, but one her mind just had to ask. 'Here I was, mourning the fact that I'd probably never have a boyfriend of any sort, and then this guy practically falls into my lap from right out of the sky! This can't be a coincidence…'

"Fu fu fu… has Lisanna-chan found her handsome knight?" Mirajane teased.

"Mi-Mira-nee…" Lisanna mumbled, mortified at having her thoughts so easily read by the intuitive barmaid.

"Hmm… how lucky he is, to have found his fair maiden to nurse him back to health before he can take up the most honourable duty of protecting her!" the large-chested woman continued, relentless in her ribbing of her younger sister.

"Mira-nee!"

"Tee-hee! C'mon, let's get this guy back to the guild! You can explore your romance with him in earnest once he recovers!"

Lisanna complied without any further comment, her blush only worsening when she realized that the blond's body was as hard and muscular as it appeared. The two girls struggled to lift the young man in their desire to get him to the safety of the guild; he was _heavy_. They both readjusted, though, lifting him into a makeshift two-person pack strap carry with one of his arms draped over each girl. While hearing her sister's amused giggling (despite their current situation) was a bit discomforting due to her self-consciousness at the conflicted feelings she was feeling for a complete and utter stranger, she'd easily take such a feeling of embarrassment over the feeling of dread she felt when the forms of herself, her sister, and the injured, unconscious blond were covered by a large, ominous shadow.

"A Legion!" Mirajane screamed, inadvertently forgoing her responsibility to carry the incapacitated youth, causing Lisanna to collapse underneath the blond's dead weight. In complete disregard of her earlier suggestion to bring the injured young man back with them, she shouted, "We have to leave him! Lisanna, run!"

_"Lisanna! RUN!"_

The voice of her real sister, from the nightmarish memory from a couple of years ago, sounded out through her mind. "Ugh. I… I can't move," she groaned. Although she managed to roll around onto her back despite her words, she still remained trapped underneath the unconscious blond. The situation had become incredibly dire, and in the face of it all, her mind couldn't help but dwell on the fact that the unmoving blond's form draped over her actually felt kind of… _nice._

'He… he's so warm,' she thought, intoxicated by the musky scent being emitted from his pores. She knew it was foolish, but she felt like she could stay like this forever.

_"Run, Lisanna! He's too strong!"_

"It's Knightwalker! Lisanna, please! She's too strong!" Mirajane pleaded, calling out behind her as she had already turned to run with both her and her younger sister's handbaskets. When she saw the short-haired girl not even making an effort to extricate herself from the tangled limbs of both herself the boy they had tried to help, the long-haired woman turned back to do so herself, determined not to leave her little sister behind.

It may have been harsh, but it simply wasn't feasible for them to take the insensate teenager with them, especially if they wanted to escape their pursuers.

Snapped out of her trancelike state by her sister's panicked shouts, Lisanna, with a level of reluctance that was surprising to her, managed to remove herself from the impromptu and unintentional embrace of the injured teen. Peering down at the disheveled blond as she kneeled next to him, she was drawing a serious blank as far as how she was going to be able to carry him to the guild hall on her own. He was a lot heavier than her, and her sister was dead set on them making their way back as quickly as possible. The implication was clear.

"Leave him, Lisanna! We have to get back to the guild!"

_"Leave us, Lisanna. Get back to the guild, to Fairy Tail!"_

Lisanna didn't want to leave him, just like she had refused to leave her brother and sister. "No! This guy… needs _help!_ I won't let Knightwalker–!"

Right on cue, the woman in question made her appearance, leaping off her mount in the Legion as she fired a voluminous blast of energy from the long barrel of the transformed version of her infamous magic spear. Lisanna braced herself, selflessly throwing herself over the comatose blond in order to prevent any further damage to him. When the energy beam whizzed past her, her relief was short-lived, as the horrific realization of just _who_ the actual target was dawned on her.

"MIRA-NEE!"

"Kyaaah!"

While the beam-like shot of energy just narrowly missed scoring a direct hit on the eldest Strauss, it did manage to graze her left leg, causing her to drop and spill all the herbs the two sisters had painstakingly collected for the past hour as she collapsed, crying out in pain.

The way it struck her, not directly, but barely… that wasn't a miss. It was intended to send a message.

"That was a warning shot," Erza Knightwalker said, confirming their suspicions as she completed her dismount from the Legion, landing in a crouch. She realigned the barrel of her spear-turned-cannon to hone in on Mirajane's fallen form. "Step away from the mage, and you and your sister will be spared."

…She had forgotten about Erza. Aside from their appearances and their incredible battle prowess, the two Erzas were both so different. She had almost forgotten about how Erza Knightwalker was her enemy, a ruthless fighter who would kill anybody without any hesitation. She was completely different from Erza Scarlet, the woman that was her comrade from Fairy Tail, the woman who, despite her rivalry with her sister, cherished the lives of others.

"But… but…" Lisanna sputtered, starting to feel the gravity of the situation overwhelm her, inducing a feeling of acute anxiety within her.

"Yes, the Fairy Hunter is willing to spare your life. No, this is not a joke. This fellow right here is very important for our King's ambition, you see. Leave him to our care, and you will be spared… this time," a strange man with blond hair in a pompadour style and pink armor said in a somewhat genial manner, the blatant threat at the tail end of his statement notwithstanding.

Lisanna shook her head, pleading, "P-please! He's hurt, just leave him! I…"

Her pleads were cut short when she noticed Erza smirking cruelly, her spear lighting up as it began charging another beam. Lisanna's eyes widened at the frightening expression; the Erza of Fairy Tail would never have such a sadistic expression on her face, under any circumstances.

"Hmph. Don't say I didn't warn you!" she yelled, charging up her Ten Commandments Spear.

"LISANNA! PLEASE!" Mirajane yelled, sobbing in frustration, helpless and unable to move due to her injured leg.

"Wait!" Lisanna said desperately, shedding tears of her own. "We'll go, so leave us alone!"

In the end, she couldn't make the same mistake as last time. She had refused to abandon her brother and it resulted in her being sent to Edolas, grievously injured. Yet, here she was, desperately clinging to a stranger while her sister was in mortal danger if she didn't comply with the army commander.

"Good," Erza said, lowering her spear as it deactivated. "Now go, enjoy this reprieve. I'll be coming for your guild soon enough."

Lisanna crawled to her sister's side, who was gingerly cradling her injured leg; the injury didn't look too bad, but she couldn't tell for sure. Knightwalker's colleague, that strange-looking blond man, had in the meantime got off their shared Legion in order to go about hoisting up the spiky-haired blond (that she had wanted to help) with a lot less difficulty than she would have figured. Despite that fact, the man was still straining to carry the blond, who had a deceptively heavy build. "Whoa! We've got a heavy one here!" he said playfully; his ill-conceived attempt at humor was shut down, however, as the stern redhead scolded him.

"Shut up and get on, Sugarboy. We've accomplished our task, let's return to the palace," she ordered as she herself boarded the creature. The man complied without any complaints, his smile dropping from his face at the swift rebuke.

All too quickly, the two agents of the Kingdom of Edolas had once more boarded the Legion as they took off toward their destination, their hostage in tow.

Lisanna could still feel the hot tears streaming down her face at her helplessness at the situation as she clutched onto her sister. Because she was so weak, someone who was like her was taken by the corrupt Kingdom of Edolas, but even more frightening was the fact that her irrational desire to help a total stranger almost resulted in her and Mirajane's demise.

Unarmed, they had been at Erza's mercy, which was not an enviable situation by any stretch of the imagination. Her sister's counterpart confirmed as much, saying with a shaky voice, "As far as I'm concerned, we got lucky… she could have killed us, easily. We were sitting ducks."

Lisanna could only nod her head weakly in silent agreement.

So shaken were they that the two girls just sat there, holding each other until some members of the guild came by to get them, long after the injured blond was taken to the palace.

* * *

[|||]

(Later that Day — Royal Palace Council Room)

"Well done, Erza, Sugarboy," King Faust said, praising his Second and Fourth Division Commanders to start off the second Royal Council meeting of the day. "You had no trouble, I assume?"

"Well, there was–" Sugarboy began, but was cut off by Erza.

"You assume correct, your Majesty," she said, heedless of the indignant frown that now appeared on the blond man's face.

"Good," the King replied, thinking nothing of what Sugarboy had been trying to say. He then turned to Byro, saying, "You've had a chance to examine the foreign mage in our custody. What did you see?"

"Well, your Majesty, the boy was grievously injured from what I have seen. Clearly Erza-san and Sugarboy failed to practice any restraint. I would have much preferred a more… _pristine_ patient."

"W-wait a minute! That's just not true! The poor kid was already like that, honest!" the cleft-chinned blond protested. "Erza, back me up here!"

"We didn't harm him. He was already littered with injuries. Besides, even if it was us, who cares? Just patch him up, we did our job," the scarlet-haired woman said dismissively.

"Yes, I have doctors assigned to his recovery," Byro said, a petulant frown on his face at the response.

"More importantly," the King interjected, "what of his magical reserves? The power he wields… is it truly magic?"

"That's just it, your Majesty… this boy is no mage. Magic? Preliminary tests have revealed nothing of the sort. I truly doubt that the power this boy commands is magic," the Chief of Staff said apologetically.

"So this has all been a _waste?"_ Faust growled.

"N-no, your Majesty!" a panicked beyond belief Byro said at the mere prospect of failing the king.

"But it _is_ power, isn't it?" Sugarboy asked. "And you say it's substantial?"

"Yes, and I'm confident that there are still measures that can be taken to make use of this power!" Byro exclaimed.

"Like what?" Pantherlily asked gruffly. "If it's not magical power, I don't see how it can be put to use, let alone extracted."

"If we could bring him here through the Anima, which targets magical power, even though he _has_ no magic power, then it wouldn't be farfetched to say that his energy shares some similar properties to magic. Furthermore, it would not be a stretch to say that this foreigner, despite not having any magic, will eventually be able to supply us with magic should we take the appropriate avenues," the wrinkled man explained.

"And what would these 'avenues'… entail?" the King asked.

"Although the process would be cumbersome, we can still extract his energy from him directly," Byro said seriously.

King Faust raised a wrinkled brow at that bold suggestion. "And how long would it take for us to convert this foreign energy into magic we can use?"

"If he were a normal person, which is clearly not the case, time would indeed be an issue. While he may very well be a human, he is not human like we, or even Earthland mages are. There is something fundamentally different about this young man, and that difference is exhibited in his strange brand of energy. It will allow for us to extract it without much difficulty, I'd stake anything on it. This boy is the key to eternal magic."

"Really?! Eternal magic... wow! That sounds amazing! _Amazing!"_ Hughes shouted joyously.

"Feh. It sounds a bit grandiose to me. Is this a legitimate possibility, or are you wasting our time? Such a method used on a mage outside of a Dragon Slayer is doomed to fail, after all," Pantherlily said, reiterating the King's doubts.

"It will work," Byro said simply, masking his annoyance at all the doubt being sent his way.

"Good," Faust said, apparently pleased with the self-assured response out of his Chief of Staff. "Do it. Also, schedule a meeting to reconvene on the morrow. I want to know _everything_, understood?"

"Yes, your Majesty."

"Excellent. In the meantime, continue with the extractions of magic via the lesser Anima. Any amount of magical energy we can procure to supplement our own stores is obviously always welcome. ...This meeting is over."

The Chief of Staff, Assistant Chief of Staff, and the four Commanders all promptly made their way out of the room, leaving the aloof King to his own devices. Thinking on the mage they had captured, it was impressive that he, while not being a Dragon Slayer, was not turned into a lacrima. Not being from Earthland must have helped in that regard as well, he thought. In the end, if the boy died from having his energy directly extracted from him, it was no skin off his back. They could get more magic from Earthland to fuel his pet project.

Speaking of which, perhaps it was time to check on _Dorma Anim_ once more, make sure it wasn't rusting over in its disuse. It was what he needed to ensure his perfect victory, after all.

* * *

[|||]

(A Short Time Later — Underground Prison Complex of the Royal Palace)

"Gu shyu shyu… the moment has finally arrived!" Byro said gleefully, displaying a confidence wholly contradictory to his behaviour in the council meeting. His assistant, Coco, appeared to be visibly unsettled as a result of his depraved laughter, finding it to be in poor taste. He continued anyway, saying, "This boy, he will be my ticket to greatness! And now, we will finally have unlimited magic! Ngushushushushu!"

Before continuing down towards the very important prisoner's cell, he instructed the young girl to remain by the exit, much to her relief. She clearly wanted to be nowhere nearby when this all went down.

Walking up to and entering the VIP's cell, Byro found the foreigner hanging limply from his restrained position of being chained to the wall. With a pleased smile on his face, he slowly approached the barely conscious prisoner, as if to savour the moment.

"I should have known you were special. I should have known that you weren't just a mage, especially when the Anima did not convert you into a lacrima… but now, your power is _ours_. The Kingdom of Edolas thanks you," Byro said in a cruel mockery of diplomacy.

Raising a strange device with a large pouch and a nozzle-like protrusion, he aimed it at the blond's midsection, and flicked the switch on.

A pulsating purple seal formed in midair at the spout of the instrument the dumpy old man was wielding, before it finally began extracting some of the unique energy located within the young man's abdominal cavity. Seeing the teenager lurch in pain, he laughed, enjoying the sight of the boy's body trembling due to him suddenly having to endure this very excruciating pain.

"Fight all you like, boy… it is futile. Your power is _ours_ to wield!"

Watching as the energy was making its way slowly but surely into the device, Byro couldn't help but think, 'The King will be pleased.' It was actually _working._ Thanks to this power, _Dorma Anim_ would soon be ready for the implementation of Code ETD, and when that happened, their triumph over the Exceeds would be a foregone conclusion, and a world of eternal magic would be within their reach!

* * *

[|||]

An ominous purple glow could be seen at the end of the darkened hallway leading to the holding cell containing their hostage.

Coco, who had been scampering between the holding cells as energetically as ever, couldn't hold in a shiver at the sight. She had not wanted to come down here, but Byro had insisted upon her presence. Thus, in an effort to mitigate her anxiety, she had taken to running about to take her mind off of her surroundings, if only for a short while.

It wasn't working.

The ineffectiveness of her method of mitigating her anxiety was starting to wear on her, but she didn't dare stop running. She _loved_ running. She just hoped Byro got this all over with soon.

"Hurry up, Byro…" she whimpered. Hearing his delighted laughter at the prisoner's suffering was only making things worse. If he was enjoying himself, they wouldn't be leaving the dungeons anytime soon; he was sadistic like that.

The girl frowned at herself. When had she become so selfish? That blond guy, even though he was a prisoner, was suffering more than her. The least she could do was maintain her post, praying that their detainee wan't harmed too much. She just wanted magic for the Kingdom of Edolas. She didn't want for people to suffer like _this. _Was this how it was always going to be? Was this what the prince had argued against?

All of a sudden, she heard a furious bellow from the man they had captured; she couldn't make any sense of it, though. It wasn't any language _she_ had heard of… what did he even say? What was happening?

When the sound of a body hitting the floor registered in her ears, coupled with an echoing clatter sounding out throughout the underground prison, it had taken nearly all of her courage to stay rooted to her spot in order to maintain her current position rather than dash out of the prison complex. When those disconcerting sounds were followed by the glowing light from the magic extraction apparatus dying down, Coco began to lose her nerve, making her way towards the staircase that led out of the cell blocks of the underground prison.

She then heard a loud whirring sound, which was followed by a green glowing light coming from the cell.

Moments later, a pained "GAH!" sounded out that had her quaking in her boots. That sounded like Byro!

'Has the prisoner escaped?' she thought with no small amount of panic. 'Wh… what do I do?'

Her indecisiveness led to her just standing there dumbly, helplessly awaiting who would emerge from the cell. She could hear the faint murmur of a voice, but she wasn't sure whose it was.

Needless to say, when she saw the blond man stagger out of the cell after a somewhat significant amount of time had passed, she felt an absolutely crippling amount of fear take hold of her, thoroughly dreading what was in store for her. In her fright at the unexpected sequence of events, she didn't even dare to make any attempt to speak to the stranger.

In an instant, a menacing, discordant set of eyes pinned her where she stood, glowing ominously from within the darkness, with both herself and the newly self-liberated prisoner at opposite ends of the corridor of the underground prison. She felt her body lock up, stiffening in her helplessness as the man slowly made his way toward her. As the gap between them lessened, his head was no longer masked by the shadows, revealing his face, which she noticed had strange markings resembling whiskers. His frightening countenance, though, kept her rooted to her spot.

"P… p-please…!" she moaned in trepidation, fearfully expecting something similar to what happened to her superior (whatever that was) to befall her as well. The fact that she was creeped out by the ambiance of the dungeon played a role in heightening her fear, leaving her as nothing more than a blubbering mess. "D… don't hurt me! L-l-l-let me go! _Please!"_

For a brief moment, she thought the man took pity on her, for his harsh gaze softened, and all of a sudden, she was able to move her body. Coco, shocked at this development, remained still as she waited with baited breath at what the blond man would say to her.

His brow was furrowed in concentration, but about what, Coco had no clue. After a moment, he peered down at her once more, opening his mouth to speak. He only uttered one word, but to Coco, it was the sweetest word she had heard all day.

"…Go."

The brown-haired girl wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, not after witnessing what she believed this newly free man was capable of; as a result, she immediately turned tail and hightailed it out of there with a haste that was not nearly good enough, in her opinion.

It didn't matter how fast she ran; while she knew deep down that he had let her go, she still feared the possibility of him changing his mind and giving pursuit, so she ran like hell. She didn't think she would ever feel safe, though, not after seeing those eyes.

Those scary eyes… Coco felt like she would never be fast enough to escape from them.

* * *

[|||]

(Moments before — In Naruto's cell)

Naruto had finally put it all together. What it was they were ultimately planning still eluded him, but he _did_ know why they had captured him.

Listening to the strange, short man before him speak, Naruto realized that he couldn't understand a word the man was saying. That was far from being his primary concern though, given his current predicament. This man had taken a strange device and, after aiming it at him, proceeded to drain his energy.

'Shit… so this was their plan all along. I was wondering what their angle was… what it is they hope to achieve by chaining me to this rock. They're really trying to–!'

**"Naruto! They're really trying to rip me out of the seal! My chakra's being drained!" **Kurama exclaimed in consternation, his alarmed tone unsettling Naruto like nothing had before.

'Shit, I knew it! _Shit!_ What do I do?!'

**"I don't know, but do ****_something!"_** Kurama roared.

"Fuck!" Naruto growled, agony and desperation wracking his trembling form. Looking up to meet the large bug-eyes of his tormentor, he snarled, his muscles bulging as he strained furiously to escape his predicament, the man responsible for wresting his energy from him laughing in malicious glee. It was clear that he was delighting himself on the pain he was inflicting on the imprisoned blond.

At the end of his rope, Naruto opened his new left eye despite his reduced chakra stores; he had to escape, at all costs. He'd make this fool _pay._

"FUCK OFF!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, pushing his chakra through the Rinnegan; feeling it throb within his eye socket, he imposed his will on the old man, forcing upon his mind imagery containing his savagely violent slaughter at the hands of the furious blond.

A split second later, he finally released his breath when the vertically challenged man staggered backwards, collapsing in a heap in front of the door leading into his cell. He exhaled a sigh of relief involuntarily when the strange chakra sucking apparatus fell to the ground out of his limp hands, shutting off abruptly when it was dropped by the now-unconscious, insensate man.

'Di… did I just… knock him out?' Naruto asked himself internally, wheezing as he clenched his eye shut before beginning to attempt to free himself from his restraints, struggling as he did so. 'It felt like I killed him...'

**"Keh heh…"** Kurama chuckled exhaustedly. **"Yeah, you put him to sleep… with that new Rinnegan of yours. You… are as surprising as always… Naruto…"** the Bijū said, gasping as he spoke; the extraction of their chakra had clearly taken a toll on him.

Mere moments later, Naruto was bolstered by an small, yet unexpected jolt of energy from his vulpine companion, despite said companion's obvious exhaustion. It was clear that this was to allow for the blond to break himself free of the restraints that bound his form to the large slab of rock. Upon freeing himself, Naruto leaned against the rock that he had been chained to for Kami knew how long, wearily taking in his immediate surroundings. A dim, dank cell with no natural lighting and a rocky floor and walls… there was no doubt that this was an underground prison.

Looking down at his feet, he ensured that his footing was secure before pushing off the wall. His legs may have felt wobbly, what with them being out of use for such a prolonged period of time, but he still stood steadily, eager to escape. Noticing the strange energy-sucking device on the floor, the thought crossed his mind to crush it under his feet, but…

**"Yes,"** Kurama said, seeing where the blond's thoughts were headed. **"If it can absorb chakra, then it can exude it. Reverse its functionality, and restore our energy."**

Reaching for the machine with a trembling arm, Naruto winced as his hand twitched upon grasping it; it was surprisingly heavy, although that could be attributed to the lethargic weakness of his limbs due to the extensive amount of time he had been inactive.

Fumbling with the foul contraption, Naruto found a prominent switch on its side and thoughtlessly flicked it without any consideration as to its effects after he had directed its nozzle towards him. A harrowing moment later (after realizing that he had merely turned the device back _on, _much to the consternation of the Kyūbi), he had it inactive once more as he searched for the switch that would reverse the effects of the strange gadget.

Scrutinizing the tool, he finally found what he was looking for after a short while: a small button that was aligned with the surface of the device, on the base of said device. When he pushed it, it became indented, whirring loudly but briefly and startling him in the process, almost causing him to drop the damn thing.

"Fuck, that's loud…" he muttered to himself. After allowing the ringing in his ears to subside, he promptly switched the device on after once more orienting it towards him. This time, it suffused him in an ethereal, pale green glow reminiscent of the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) employed by medical ninjas back in the Elemental Nations. The effects were similar to the restorative jutsu, as well; this wasn't too much of a surprise, given that his chakra was being returned to him. The energy that had been forcefully liberated from his previously restrained body was now flowing back into him, filling him primarily with his companion's incredibly potent chakra. Even though the amount wasn't much, since he had stopped the man before he had been at it for too long, its effects were still galvanizing; he hadn't felt this good in a while.

After revelling in the revitalizing effects of having both his and his tenant's chakra restored to somewhat moderate levels (which was a far cry from what it had been before), his mind was filled with a clarity he hadn't felt in ages. He had to admit, things could have been a lot worse for him, and he knew it.

Looking down at the slumped form of the pudgy little man who seemed to derive great pleasure out of torturing him, Naruto sneered victoriously. 'Pathetic,' was all he thought of this man. Bending down to make sure that he was still comatose, he noticed the deep intakes of breaths the man was taking.

"So I really did knock him out, eh…?" he mumbled. He then reached down and pried open one of the old man's eyes, uttering a surprised 'What the _hell?'_ at what he saw.

The stranger's eye had taken on a rippled, tomoed appearance identical to that of his own Rinnegan.

Kurama chortled at that. **"Kah ha ha! You're a natural, Naruto! You've caught him in a genjutsu!"**

'But how?' Naruto asked the giant fox. 'I don't see how I could have done anything like this! I just wanted him to stop…'

**"Yeah, well, that's usually the case when you do something like this inadvertently,"** Kurama explained. **"You wanted him to stop badly enough that you not only knocked him out, but established a sort of mental control over him."**

"Whoa…" Naruto mumbled. "This eye is fucking _rigged_… goddamn this is insane."

**"Better for you to have it than some upstart Uchiha,"** the Kyūbi assuaged. **"Now… wake the asshole up."**

Standing upright, Naruto thought of raising his right leg and bringing it down in a vicious stomp, intent on waking the portly old man up in a most unpleasant way. He stopped himself, though, realizing that it may very well kill the fragile old fool.

A bit more lenience would be required.

"GAH!"

But not _too_ much.

The wrinkly, balding man cried out in pain as the whisker-marked youth gave him a swift kick to the midsection instead. Wheezing and coughing violently, he took a fair bit of time to finally compose himself. Once he did so, he looked up at the enfranchised blond, his eyes indicating his current status as said blond's thrall.

'Now what?' Naruto asked his tenant.

**"What do you mean 'now what'?"** the giant fox growled. **"Instruct him to activate the portal so that we can go back home!"**

"What the fuck? Are you even _listening_ to yourself? How the hell would I do that?" Naruto asked incredulously, before yanking the man to his feet and placing his hand on the guy's forehead to concentrate. When Naruto released him, nothing had changed; the man remained still and rigid, unmoving.

Naruto was dumbfounded. With a level of immodesty he didn't think he was capable of, he asked, 'Did I... _break_ him?'

**"Who knows?"** the fox asked, stifling a laugh. How the hell would he know such a thing? **"What the fuck did you even do?"**

"I don't know, exactly. I just… I wanted to impart my, um… what I wanted him to do… y'know… into his mind," the blond said, although neither he nor the fox knew what the hell it was he was talking about. "Um... if he's under my control, then he should do what I tell him, right?'

**"Hmph. A simple way of looking at it, but it makes sense. Too bad it didn't work. As you said, you _broke_ his mind, keh heh. You're going to have to do something else."**

Naruto looked at the diminutive man, a contemplative from on his face. While he had essentially reversed the situation by imprisoning the man who had taken _him_ prisoner (albeit, within the fool's own mind), it obviously wasn't good enough. He needed… information. Looking at his right hand, he didn't see any other recourse available to him.

Walking up to that man once more, Naruto reached down, placing his hand upon the man's skull and activating Ningendō: Kyūkon no Jutsu (Human Path: Absorption Soul Technique), the Rinnegan ability that allowed for him to read the mind of the victim, at the cost of the victim's own life.

As his mind immediately set about assimilating the knowledge he had now obtained, he finished the technique, ripping the man's soul right out of his body. Now nothing more than a soulless husk, the now-lifeless body collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"Shit," Naruto grumbled, clutching his implanted left eye. It was throbbing wildly, his brain being bombarded with a whole bunch of signals conveying the incredibly sharp pain in his left eye socket, and this was all in addition to the constant imagery of the absorbed knowledge of the man he had just killed peppering his mind. He was starting to develop a headache, which seemed to feed back into a vicious loop where his eye would pulsate in even more pain, which would then cause his headache to intensify, and on and on.

When the flow of the absorbed memories had lessened somewhat, the pain palliated enough for him to be able to open his eye without it tearing up in pain.

**"Remove the eye, Naruto,"** Kurama instructed. **"Sure, it can be fun to have this power, but ultimately... you don't need it, and it's clear that your little hack job of an eye transplant is costing you."**

"…No, it's fine."

**"You don't need the eye anymore,"** the fox insisted. **"If anything, you should have a medical ninja implant it for you if you want it that badly. I'm surprised it's even worked for you as long as it has. That Yang power of yours is basically the chakra version of duct tape. You think that if you apply it to everything, it'll miraculously 'work', or be 'fixed'. There are exceptions to this, though, and your new eye is one of them."**

"No, I can't remove it, not yet," Naruto said. "I know you're right about me not needing the eye. I just needed it, really, to end the Infinite Tsukuyomi and seal Sasuke so I wouldn't have to kill him, but–"

**"Wait wait wait… you do realize that your little friend Sasuke is going to die, right?"**

"What? What do you mean?"

**"He's not Kaguya. He's not immortal. After what, three… maybe four days if he's lucky… he'll die of thirst. A torturous way to die, to be sure. You definitely killed him, Naruto."**

Naruto had no response to that. Deep down, he knew that the fox was right. Although the thought of ripping out the transplanted Rinnegan crossed his mind, he refrained from doing so, reminding himself of the fact that while he ultimately didn't really _need_ the eye, it would still be an immense help to him, even with Kurama's chakra and the Rikūdo Sennin's Six Paths Chakra at his disposal. In an adverse situation such as this, what with him being a prisoner in a foreign world and all, he'd need every tool at his disposal to get out of this alive with his flagging chakra reserves.

Fighting for days on end while giving away his chakra like handouts during the war, being captured and having his chakra _drained_ after the war, and yet, still being able to even _stand_… and here he had thought he had no clan, no bloodline. The Uzumaki life force and chakra were truly formidable.

"I'll consider removing it once we get back home," Naruto said in an attempt to appease the Nine-Tails. The fact that the eye was acting up so soon was a bad sign, but he wasn't willing to deprive himself of such a valuable tool at such a critical time.

**"Feh. Suit yourself, brat. Let's just get out of here. We should make our way to the other side of this continent, where the portals are frequent."**

Naruto was about to ask how it was the Bijū knew of where these interdimensional portals formed, but then it occurred to the blond that the giant fox had went through the memories absorbed from the sadistic old man as well.

**"See how simple it is?"** Kurama asked rhetorically, his condescending tone eliciting an annoyed growl from his mortal companion. Chuckling, the Nine-Tails continued, **"Keh heh. This part of the continent is saturated in energy, while the other is devoid of it. Those portals suck up energy, so it's only logical that they'd eject their contents in areas where energy is lacking. Just make a clone and send it to the room which operates the portals, and then once the clone activates it we can go through it and get back home."**

'And what if it doesn't work? What if the clone doesn't open the hole in the sky for us to escape home?'

**"Are you even looking at these memories, Naruto?"** the giant fox asked. **"Our first priority is to get the hell out of here. It ultimately doesn't matter if we can't get a clone or ****_something_**** in there to open a celestial gate for us to get home with, because they'll do it again _without_ our provocation. Sure, it would be better if we did it ourselves, since in that case, there would be no waiting, but in the event that fails, it would be best for us to just bide our time, and pounce when the time comes."**

'Hmph. Well, you've certainly thought of everything, haven't you?' Naruto asked, a bit put out at the prompt replies Kurama was providing him in the sense that the fox gave off the air of a know-it-all, which was annoying because it was information that he was privy to, as well.

At the same time, though, he was appreciative of his comrade's insight. It made a lot of sense, and he'd put the fox's considerable knowledge and experience to good use (as far as his insight was concerned). Silently forming a cross hand-seal and molding his chakra, he formed a duplicate of himself using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique), which appeared in a puff of smoke. Wordlessly, the clone nodded at him as if to affirm that the instructions he had mentally imparted upon it were received, before departing in search of the room where they operated the activation those portals.

'Hmm… that Kage Bunshin was a lot more difficult to pull off than normal…' he mused internally.

**"Well, it's only natural. Your chakra reserves are lower due to the exhaustion from fighting in the war against Madara and Kaguya, and even you should know that lower chakra reserves combined with your level of chakra control equals…"**

'More efficient chakra output, but at the same time, more difficulty with chakra intensive techniques,' Naruto said, remembering Sakura's lessons as he finished Kurama's sentence. 'But even so, my reserves are not nearly low enough to restrict me from making more shadow clones. Good.'

Making his way out of the cell, he found himself in the long, narrow corridor that was the underground cell block. Hearing a frightened squeal, he zeroed in on what appeared to be a little girl standing in front of a staircase… the one which most likely led out of this dimly lit dungeon.

His eyes narrowed. This girl seemed familiar… was she an ally of the man he whose soul he had taken? Giving her a hard glare, he took the first step in her direction. Then another, and another, slowly, deliberately walking toward her as he pinned her with her Rinnegan-enhanced gaze, thinking, 'Don't move.' She didn't.

When he started closing the gap between him and the girl, and as a result closing the gap between him and the exit as well, the girl (who stood in front of said exit) started whimpering, her whole body trembling in fear.

"P… p-please…!" she moaned in trepidation, clearly expecting him to bring her harm. Her eyes were darting around frantically, obviously frightened by more than just him if her body language was anything to go by. Why was she so scared? Wasn't she an accomplice of his abductors? "D… don… hurt me! L-l-l-let… me go! _Please!"_

What? This tongue that these people spoke in… could he now understand it? His brow furrowed in concentration as he temporarily put the outside world on hold, unafraid of the girl who posed absolutely no threat to him. Concentrating inwardly as he tried to make sense of the jumbled knowledge he had liberated from that little old man, he realized just how incredibly far reaching the soul absorption technique was. So he had knowledge of this foreign language now, eh? Cool, but…

**"It's an odd dialect, but there are quite a bunch of similarities between it and our own language. At the very least, it won't take much for you to become fluent in it."**

'Yeah, that makes sense,' Naruto said internally in agreement. Despite what he said, it felt like it had a foggy effect on his mind, making it tough to grasp. Instantaneous understanding of something as complicated as a whole new language (no matter how similar), not to mention fluency as far as such a thing was concerned, was just not realistic.

Refocusing outwardly, he once more saw the pathetically whimpering girl, who was now curled up on the floor as if to make herself as small as possible. Seeing her behave like this made him rethink who exactly this girl was. Perhaps she was innocent? His gaze softened, releasing her from the mental binding he had placed upon her. Immediately, she perked up, looking at him as if she was seeking permission to leave.

She certainly looked like an innocent little girl. Realizing that she was waiting for him to utter his explicit dismissal, he tried to form what it was he wanted to say, which was, 'You can go.' When he then opened his mouth, he was only able to utter one word: "…Go."

Visibly elated to hear that lone word, the girl ran for it, heading up the stairs and out of sight.

"Damn, that was harder than I thought," the blond mused, speaking in his native tongue once more. Trying to mix and match the corresponding words between his mother tongue and this new language was going to be a pain, but hopefully he wouldn't have to do it for much longer. Once he got home, all this nonsense would just be a story for him to tell his friends and loved ones.

**"Should you have let her go? If she is indeed their ally, and I don't doubt that she is, then she'll inform them of our escape."**

"I couldn't care less about that. Let her tell them," Naruto said. "I'll crush whoever comes at me. I've wanted to bash some skulls in, anyway."

**"Yes, but don't lose track of our goal. Escaping is the priority," **Kurama said.

"Well, look at you, being the voice of reason for once," Naruto said amusedly, allowing himself to speak aloud since he was alone in the area, although such a thing didn't really matter since nobody but the Bijū within him would understand him anyway. "Alright, we have to find a way out of here and across the countryside quickly, while the clone does its job and activates that thing… what was it called?" he asked, getting sidetracked momentarily. Scouring his brain, he came across the term for the interdimensional gateway, "Ana... ani... animuh_... Anima._ ...What the hell kinda name is _that?"_

Thinking on the aerially situated dimensional pathways, while a small part of him did find the name strange, a larger part of him was curious about how they went about forming those interdimensional gateways; his survival, though, was always the priority. Besides, his clone would be sufficient enough for him to glean what he could about their methods, which surprisingly rivalled the Jikūkan Ninjutsu (Teleportation Techniques) that were so formidably wielded by some of his enemies back in the Elemental Nations.

"Now…" he said to himself lowly, "time to get the fuck outta here."

**"Damn right. ****I wouldn't mind tearing these fools a new one, too. Get on it, brat," **Kurama said in agreement, changing his tune.

"Heh… it'll be my pleasure!" Naruto said with a laugh, dashing up the stairs and out of the dungeon.

He had no idea who these people were, but at the same time, they didn't know who he was either. And if there was one thing he had going for him, it was that having him as an unknown quantity, combined with his adversarial status given his imprisonment, meant nothing good for his enemies.

* * *

**Chapter two, complete. Thanks for reading.**

**CS.**


	3. Dark Guild, Fairy Tail

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Dark Guild, Fairy Tail**

* * *

Despite being back safely at the Edolas Fairy Tail guild hall, Lisanna was extremely worried. Sure, it hadn't even been a whole day since she had seen that blond man, but she was still worried. 'Man?' she thought to herself in a moment of wry amusement. 'He looked like he was _my_ age.'

That passing thought only served to make her even more worried for him.

"Lisanna... I'm sorry, but... he's probably... you know..."

Lisanna turned abruptly in the direction of the person who had said that, her shock at her thoughts being being read _again_ turning into anger at the insinuation.

"Mira-nee!" she scolded, upset at what her sister had the audacity to even imply. "Don't say that!"

That could have been her. What if, back then, it _had_ been her? Just the thought of it made her feel sick to her stomach. She refused to think that he was dead.

Mirajane was reclined in a soft chair, her legs propped up as she was resting. Aside from that painful looking leg injury, she appeared to be fine, dressed in her usual revealing purple top and long skirt.

"But that fearsome woman, Knightwalker, got to him," she told Lisanna as she frowned heavily, speaking in a softer, more considerate tone after seeing the look of distress on the short-haired girl's face. "She's a killer. What reason would she have to spare the poor guy? I mean, we don't even know where he came from!"

"Well... um, yeah... we _don't_ know where he came from, do we? He just fell out of the sky..." the currently powerless Take Over mage said, although she internally still held the belief that he was from Earthland, like her.

The eldest Strauss frowned at that. Was there something she knew that she wasn't letting on? "What I want to know is what the King wants with him. That guy with Knightwalker mentioned as much, but regardless of whether that injured boy is wanted by the King or not, he is in an unenviable situation," she said. "Worrying about him won't do anything except make you miserable. You hardly knew the guy. It's better to just let him go." Reaching up to place a final pat of reassurance on the currently standing girl's shoulder, the buxom white-haired barmaid waved her little sister off, telling her to go about her duties as the sole able-bodied waitress. Lisanna acquiesced to the prompting; given Mirajane's injury at the hands of the red-haired woman, she deserved to rest for however long it took for her to recover.

"Forget what your sister thinks," a blonde-haired young woman said, popping up next to the white-haired girl as she made her rounds. "I, for one, am glad you finally found yourself a man, Lisanna."

Lucy Ashley was one of the guild's more prominent (and notorious) members. She was garbed in a revealing black leotard with a popped collar that was cut strategically to show off her curvy legs, flat stomach and ample breasts, which were held in place by a white bikini top. She also had thigh-high boots as well as a metal guard on her right shoulder, her other shoulder uncovered revealing the elaborate tattoo she had on her upper left arm.

While Lisanna had gotten along with her really well (which was surprising given the girl's abrasive manner), she was as vulgar, if not more so, than Levy, what with her immodest and downright perverted tendencies.

"I-I haven't found myself a man!" Lisanna stuttered. "I hardly knew the guy!"

"Oh? What does he even look like?" the blonde asked.

"Well... um... he–"

"He has blond hair like you, Lucy," Mirajane said, interjecting abruptly before Lisanna could stutter out a response. "He also looked like he was in a _huge_ fight. He was covered in blood and bruises, and his clothes were all ripped up."

"Oh? Blond like me?" Lucy asked with a knowing smile. "I bet he was a looker, too, huh?" Naturally she zeroed in on the least relevant part of his description.

"Yes, he was. Quite rugged, as a matter of fact," Mirajane said agreeably. When Lucy looked to Lisanna for confirmation of that, the short-haired girl merely flushed under the scrutiny. When the blonde's large, brown eyes lit up, Lisanna started waving her hands in order to preempt any outburst from the aggressive girl, but it was to no avail.

"Hah!" Lucy crowed with delight. "You really _did_ find yourself a man! Wow! I never knew ya had it in ya!"

"N... NO! THAT... THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL!"

"Really?" the blonde with a hair band designed as a skull asked. "You sure?" She never knew Lisanna to be a liar, and seeing her so vehemently deny everything put a damper on her enjoyment of the topic of their conversation.

"Yes," Lisanna said, sighing with annoyance.

"Huh... and here I thought you had finally gotten laid."

"_Wh-what?!"_ Lisanna shrieked, stunned at the outrageous statement made by the blonde. With her being so dumbfounded by the off-base proclamation, the blue-eyed girl could only stutter. "I-I-I..."

Lucy started laughing at her easily flustered friend, pleased to see that she could still so effortlessly rattle the short-haired girl. Lisanna, though, had an unexpected ally in a certain mechanically adept young woman.

"I bet you'd know _all _about getting laid, wouldn't you, you slut?" Levy said.

...Okay, so it wasn't so much about her coming to Lisanna's defense than it was getting in a cheap shot at her rival, but still.

"Heh. That'd be funny, if I wasn't always linked to Natsu in things like this. He's almost as much of a prude as you are, bitch!" Lucy replied, laughing off the potshot.

"He's not a prude so much as he knows to avoid an easy girl like you," Levy said, always quick to reply.

"I could say the same thing about you and that flaky reporter, Gajeel."

"Wh-what the hell? There's nothing going on with me and that loser! Fuck off!"

"Make me!"

"GRRRRRRRR!"

In the blink of an eye, the two girls were forehead-to-forehead, just barely preventing themselves from taking part in an exchange of blows.

"C'mon, Levy! Kick her ass!" her fellow members from Team Shadow Gear, Jet and Droy, said in unison, shouting at their blue-haired teammate as they demanded that she tear Lucy a new one.

"D-Don't hurt Levy-san too much, Lucy-san..." said Natsu Dragion, trembling in trepidation as he pleaded with Lucy not to go too far in her fight with the girl responsible for the guild's transportation.

"Don't worry buddy, there's nothing to worry about! They do this all the time!" Gray Surge said, reassuring Natsu before he turned to address the apple of his eye. "Isn't that right, Juvia-chan?"

The woman sighed. "You're so annoying..."

"Poor girls," Cana said with an airy giggle, her hands folded in her lap. "They don't seem to realize just how close they are."

When Elfman started tearing up at the mere prospect of a scuffle between the two fiery girls, Jet and Droy absolutely lost it. "What the hell? This doesn't even _involve_ you! Why the hell are you crying?!"

Lisanna sighed, an exasperated smile on her face. Her guild mates, in their own way, always managed to take her mind off such depressing thoughts or cheer her up when she was down.

...She ignored Elfman, of course. How a grown man could cry that much was beyond her.

"Hmm? Natsu? Where are you going?" Lisanna asked as she suddenly took notice of the young man with rose-pink hair trying to sneak out the back door.

"Oh! Uh... L-Lisanna-san," he said, a bit startled that someone noticed him trying to slip away. "W-well I... I just wanted to head out for a bit, you know? Um... I wanted to go and... just... go for a little drive and all that..."

So he was trying to preemptively escape before Lucy inevitably turned her ire onto him when she unsurprisingly stalemated with Levy? In the short term, such a course of action seemed sound, but...

"You know she'll just be even angrier when she learns you just ran away, right?" Lisanna said.

"Ye-yeah, but... it's been awhile since I got behind the wheel, so..."

Lisanna shook her head, giggling at his timidity, "Well, sure, you can go. You don't have to ask for permission, Natsu. Just make sure you stay safe."

He nodded as firmly as he was capable of, "Ye-yes, Lisanna-san. I'll be careful, I promise."

The poor boy hadn't even taken a single step, though, before a familiar, bossy voice sounded out from across the guild hall.

"Oi, Natsu! Where the hell are YOU going?" an irate Lucy called, easily seeing through his escape attempt. Clearly he had done this before, and she was having none of it on this day.

"Aack!"

"You're not going anywhere without me!" the blonde snarled, draping an arm over the sagging boy's form.

Natsu, surprised at how quickly the overbearing blonde caught onto him, could only sputter, "But... but..." He didn't manage to say anything substantial before she marched him out of the guild's main exit.

Lisanna smiled as she watched them leave, turning back to witness the rest of the guild going about their business in their usual manner. Natsu's reservations aside, it was probably for the best that Lucy accompanied him; it wasn't very safe outside the guild, after all. As for the guild at large, despite the fundamental differences between the members themselves, this bunch was as rowdy as Earth Land's Fairy Tail. It made the transition to Edolas that much simpler, and Lisanna would forever be thankful for that.

* * *

[|||]

(That Same Evening — Royal Palace Courtyard)

'What an eyesore,' the clone of Naruto thought, peering at the ostentatious display commonplace throughout the palace. There was yet _another_ likeness of this strange, emaciated old man, this time in the form of a statue, smack dab in the middle of a fountain. On his way out of the castle, he had seen numerous paintings of the same old man dressed in his full regalia, as strange as it looked.

He'd have destroyed them all had he the chakra to spare.

As a clone, the adjustment he had to make from his creator's way of doing things was a difficult one, to say the least. As far as combat and chakra expenditure were concerned, to say that he had to approach things differently would be putting it mildly.

The Boss' way of conducting battle was to basically throw himself at his opponents, attacking in an unrelenting blitz that would either exhaust his opponents or force them to falter, or both. This combat style included high-powered, high-energy techniques that were used with a frequency that was downright unsustainable for the average shinobi.

Clearly, the Boss (or Originator, or Creator, or whatever term he had felt appropriate to refer to the Boss as) was anything but average in that regard.

It was this manner of combat that resulted in the Originator rapidly wasting the lives of any clones he generated by throwing them at their mutual enemy without any sort of plan or objective in the battle other than 'kick their ass'. It simply didn't matter how skilled he became in close-quarters combat; because the Creator was so hardy and durable, he just didn't prioritize avoiding everything an enemy would throw at him, and in the case of his fellow clones, such an approach resulted in their existence being snuffed out all too rapidly in a puff of smoke.

Why all the concern on this matter? Because the situation demanded it. As an HPC (high-priority clone — a clone that had a minimum of one third of the Boss' chakra), he had been gifted with a significant amount chakra from the Creator — in this case, half — to accomplish a task, often one of great importance, in his stead.

Stealth was the absolute priority, here. If he could avoid a confrontation with anyone and everyone, it'd be ideal. The problem was, to get to his destination, he'd have to go through some of the more densely populated areas of the palace given the fact that his starting position of the dungeons and his final destination that was the Anima chamber were on opposite sides of the castle.

In the event that he ended up in a fight or skirmish, the HPC knew that on his part, speed should and would be the focal point of the battle, both in the evasion of any incoming attacks and the execution of any of his own. Chakra expenditure was another thing to monitor, but that obviously was not as important as preventing his premature 'death', although the two did tie in together somewhat.

Spying the approach of two figures, the clone sighed. It seemed he would have to quickly make use of his recently determined battle style predicated on avoiding any and all hits or strikes from the enemy in order to proceed with the mission assigned by the Boss. While he found his two opponents to be garbed ridiculously, he didn't say anything, given his own appearance: he was still dressed in the rags he had from back home, with the dirty orange pants and mesh shirt combo.

His two opponents were giving him dirty looks, clearly displeased with the fact that he had managed to escape. One had dark hair with white bangs, while the other had blond hair styled strangely, as if he had spent all day in front of a mirror combing or coiffing it. The latter was wearing ridiculous pink armor with a black underwear-like bottom, and while the former wasn't wearing something equally ridiculous, he still looked stupid with the shoulder pads on his coat and the arrow-shaped eyebrows.

"You... who do you think you are?" the blond man said angrily. "Do you think you can just _escape?"_

Naruto didn't vocalize a response, content to let them speak as he quickly tried to formulate a successful strategy that would allow for him to defeat them without subjecting himself to anything untoward as far as damage was concerned.

The black-haired teenager growled in anger at the fair-haired youth's lack of a response, saying, "I'd kill you if the King would allow it. As it stands, we need you alive if we're gonna have magic for all of eternity. For you to try and oppose us... you've got to be the very definition of the opposite of amazing. You're... _un_amazing." He then brandished a long, thin rod with a circular handle and a crystalline sphere.

'Must be his 'magic',' Naruto thought, slightly curious. He knew that was what they called their brand of energy, but he was more interested in learning how it worked. Was there any possibility of it working from within the body like chakra, or was it just workable with external tools? Looking at his opponents, who were quite... eccentric, if he were to be polite about it, he chuckled. As if these clowns could tell him anything worthwhile on the subject.

Putting it out of his mind, Naruto smirked at him tauntingly, provoking him into waving the rod and activating his spell. When the clone's senses picked up on the approach of a group of strange creatures, his face reverted to a neutral expression to mask his surprise at what he saw. Was this guy a _puppeteer?_ He was controlling a group of grotesque creatures that numbered almost a dozen, using his wand as a medium to do so.

"Let's see you beat all of my monsters!" the strange boy yelled.

"You're... weird," Naruto uttered, his blunt observation registering with the wand-wielding mage.

"What?!" the boy with arrows for eyebrows shrieked in anger. "And who the hell are _you?!_ The name's Hughes, fool, and I'm not weird, I'm _amazing!"_

'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique),' the blond thought, sighing as he responded by matching the monsters' numbers (and then some) with his fellow clones as they threatened to converge on his position. Moments later, the hideous group of creatures were dispatched of, the coordinated attack of the clones overwhelming the monsters who, as far as teamwork was concerned, were only able to swarm solitary, stationary targets. As a result, they were easy pickings for the blond copy's... copies.

Naruto turned his gaze onto the other man, a challenging look in his eye. Tossing the man the universal sign for 'bring it', complete with its accompanying hand gesture, he said, "And you? What you got, Pinky?"

Eyes flashing in anger, the man overcame his surprise at the sight of the spiky-haired blond multiplying as he whipped out his sword. "The name's SUGARBOY!" he yelled, swiping his weapon at the ground. The ground caved in on itself, softening to the point of it being damn near liquified.

Naruto leapt in order to avoid having the ground fall out from under him, laughing as he jeered, "Sugarboy?" The name jogged his memory a bit, but he set it aside in favor of continuing his mocking laughter. "As if _that's_ better! Hah!" What the hell kinda name was that, anyway?

The man snarled in anger, waiting for the whisker-marked youth to make his descent. "And what the hell kinda name do _you_ have, punk?!" he asked, internally astounded at how high his opponent had managed to leap.

He wasn't the only one that was surprised at the whiskered youth's hang time; the clone himself didn't know what to make of the fact that he was _still_ airborne.

'I feel a lot... _lighter_... than usual,' he thought in awe. This world must have a lower gravitational pull than that of the Elemental Nations'; the Boss would appreciate such info. Jumping was so effortless for him here, he may as well have been flying whenever he put any substantial effort into doing so. When he landed, he immediately leapt again just to see how high he could go, this time soaring to even greater heights than he had before.

When he looked down to see the flabbergasted expressions of his opponents, Naruto mentally scolded himself, ashamed that he had gotten caught up in his own nonsense; as much as he wanted to revel in the moment, he knew he had work to do. The world's gravity and its effect on him was something the Boss could explore; _he_ had a task to accomplish.

Launching into a Leaf-style Shunshin (Body Flicker), Naruto, as far as he could tell they perceived, instantaneously appeared before his two enemies in a low crouch, both of his hands holding glowing blue spheres that continued to expand in their formation, his two mismatched eyes gleaming balefully.

"He-he can use magic?!" Hughes shouted in disbelief at their haggard-looking opponent's apparent ability to teleport.

"Impossible," Sugarboy whispered, mesmerized at the display.

"Uzumaki Naruto... is my name! Remember it! Rasenrengan (Serial Spiralling Spheres)!"

Simultaneously, Naruto drove each Rasengan into the unprotected midsections of his opponents; despite his armor, even Sugarboy was unprotected from such a strike, since his abdominal region had no armor plating. Chainmail, as he would soon realize, was not nearly enough to stop an attack as devastating as the Rasengan.

Naruto could just imagine the feeling of the Rasengans grinding viciously against their skin, the impact of the dual-wielded incarnation of the technique sending them spiralling backwards in opposing directions. Hearing their pained cries, it was all but clear to the scruffy blond that they had their rib cages shattered by the technique. Watching them crash into and through the brick walls enclosing the castle courtyard, Naruto smiled grimly. 'They won't be getting up from that one anytime soon,' he thought.

He should know. Once while sparring with Jiraiya, the man had unexpectedly whipped out a Rasengan during a supposed Taijutsu spar and promptly plunged it into his gut. When he'd painfully asked why the man had done it, the Toad Sage first replied that, as a shinobi, he shouldn't expect his opponents to rely on strict hand-to-hand combat. His teacher also went on to say that he should know what it felt like to be on the receiving end of such an injurious technique, obviously hoping that the blond would heed the unspoken message and utilize the jutsu more sparingly. The lesson was surprisingly old school from the unorthodox teacher, who had hoped Naruto wouldn't use the jutsu needlessly.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto had ignored the man's instructions, deploying it as his trump card in damn near every fight he had since he learned the move. Of course, it would have been easier to heed such a directive if the Rasengan wasn't the only legitimate offensive technique the Toad Sannin had deigned to teach him. On top of that, rather than engender caution in the young man, the negative experience at the hands of his teacher had only encouraged the blond to use the technique more, thinking that he'd make his opponents feel what _he_ felt that day, and what he felt that day was _intense_. He'd essentially been incapacitated for most of the rest of that day, and that was with the latent healing capabilities of his bloodline as an Uzumaki as well as the regenerative effects of Kurama's chakra.

He didn't bother checking on his opponents. He had no time, and even if he did, he wouldn't be inclined whatsoever to ensure the well-being of a couple of weirdos who would have liked nothing more than to imprison or perhaps even kill him. If they were lucky, someone would get to them in time to provide first aid treatment, but that was assuming they survived their respective initial impacts.

All in all, the high-priority clone of Naruto was extremely pleased with himself for managing to preserve his existence and thereby continue his mission without any major complications. As easy as that last skirmish was, he still anticipated (somewhat optimistically) that he wouldn't have any more encounters with palace personnel of any kind until he reached his targeted location.

One could only hope.

* * *

[|||]

(Concurrently — Outside the Royal City)

"Man... that place... that's quite the sight," Naruto said to himself, his words starkly different from those of his clone as he indulged in the beautiful view of the Royal City from its peripheries. At the same time, though, he was making use of one of the Rinnegan's abilities, which was the shared vision he could now have with his clones. As a passive ability, it wasn't really something he could just turn 'off', but it _was_ something he could manage and essentially block out. Pleased with his clone's exploits, he decided to check in on it later as he closed his eye; it was too annoying and distracting to always try and keep tabs on it, unless he was unencumbered and in a safe location.

As far as the metropolis was concerned, a part of him actually shared a similar sentiment with his Kage Bunshin, shaking his head as he looked back at the ostentatiously decorated city. He was standing amongst the rugged cliffs to the west of the Royal City, having just escaped from not only the palace but the city immediately surrounding it.

The palace in which he had been imprisoned was easy enough to escape. While his clone had remained in the castle in order to infiltrate the so-called 'Anima Chamber', he himself had prioritized getting the hell out of there, a task made all the more elementary by the unsurprising absence of the castle's guards on the path he had taken out of the castle.

He had taken an underground route privy only to those affiliated with the Edolas Monarchy, particularly the higher ups. As such, it was information he was now cognizant of thanks to the knowledge he had appropriated from the 'Chief of Staff', that strange old man called Byro.

Say what you will about the man (and it was clear that his colleagues did not have the highest opinion of him), his erudition was expansive; so much so that it had taken more than a few minutes for Naruto's mind to process and compartmentalize everything he had obtained from the man's knowledge stores. This was something of a big deal, given that ordinarily, it would be more of an instantaneous assimilatory process when the Soul Absorption Technique of the Rinnegan's Human Path was used.

Now that he had managed to overcome all the unusual complications with the soul-sucking technique, he was feeling a lot better, hunger notwithstanding. All he needed was for his chakra to be fully replenished (a meal and a good night's rest would go a long way in that regard) and he'd be in good shape again.

Once he had made it out of the underground tunnel that connected the castle to the outer ring of the city, it had taken him some time to gather his bearings given the city's circular formation. While this 'magic' energy of theirs was concentrated solely on this capital city, it was further divided into tiers, with the greatest concentration of magic being at the castle located at the center, with magical concentrations decreasing as the city expanded outwards. The city was broken down into multiple zones fortified by walls that formed a vertical spiral structure around the palace, with the outermost zone being restricted to housing for families with incomes on the lower end of the spectrum (although they were still able to afford a residence _within_ the overelaborate city, which was no small feat), as well as shops which were not geared toward magic use, like clothing stores.

He smiled as he looked down at himself, internalizing his new appearance. In order to draw less attention to himself (what with him still wearing his rags from his battle with Sasuke), he had been quick to procure himself a set of clothes that would suit him well until he made his departure from Edolas. This was simplified by the convenient location of almost an entire block of clothing stores near the coal/mine exit that led out from the castle.

Considering the circumstances of his arrival in this world, he had no qualms with appropriating some new clothes. He was now wearing a navy-blue pinstriped shirt and a large black hooded cloak with white trim, a pair of black slacks with similar white trimming along the hemline, and a pair of brown boots as similar to the make-up of his combat-oriented sandals as any he could find.

With his now-presentable appearance, he had been able to actually walk through the city as he mingled with the crowd, learning more about the Edolas monarchy as well as polishing up on his new spoken language; in this way, he was able to kill two birds with one stone. To aid in this process, he made use of a combination of his Kage Bunshin and Henge (Transformation) techniques: the former to accelerate his rate of learning via the memory transferring facet of the jutsu, and the latter to disguise the fact that he had unleashed a veritable mass of his copies into the city.

In the early goings, Naruto had found it to be some tough sledding. While he could understand those who he spoke with easily enough, trying to convert what it was _he_ wanted to say into this new language was, for the most part, incredibly difficult. There were too many obstacles between the message his brain would attempt to compose and the words his mouth would subsequently utter.

With extensive practice, though, he had quickly come to the realization that with him frequently employing this new language in conversation, no matter how difficult it was, he could (and would) easily attain a certain level of proficiency in it. This was thanks to the numerous similarities between it and his mother tongue, chief amongst them being the honorifics people oftentimes utilized when they addressed one another.

Before long, he had found himself speaking the language with relatively little difficulty; the exponential learning process of the shadow clone technique ensured as much. Every time a clone learned something with any level of significance, it would dispel, allowing _all_ active clones to benefit; in this way, he was able to learn continuously, over and over and over again. Once he had felt he had learned the tongue to a respectable degree (and he had surprisingly high standards in that respect), he had turned his focus on gathering intel to supplement that which he was already privy to thanks to Byro's knowledge.

At first he thought it to be of particular importance to learn more about his alien enemies (at least from an outside perspective, given the internal view he had at his disposal), but it proved to be useless. The masses may as well have been brainwashed; they provided absolutely nothing of interest, with no new insights into those that unnecessarily opposed him.

On top of all that, there was another point of concern, which was the fact that he was unarmed. He had tried finding a weapons vendor, but the city was bereft of anything even remotely resembling an armory. While some kunai or shuriken (or even a sword) would have been welcome, after some time, he had decided that his unarmed status wasn't something for him to dwell on. He had everything he needed to make his way out of this world, and his unarmed combat was actually quite stellar ever since he had undergone training with the toads on Mount Myōboku.

Just as he turned away from the megalopolis in order to make his way toward the destination he had identified as the target location for where he assumed the _Anima_ would pop up, he heard a sound that he was wholly unfamiliar with, but registered in his mind distinctly as a potential threat. Coming from the direction he himself was headed in was a strange, four-wheeled vehicle that was tearing up the landscape as it made its way toward him. While it was making a large amount of noise, that wasn't the worst or most bizarre thing about it.

It was on _fire._

More specifically, its wheels were. Naruto, not wanting to be anywhere near an out-of-control, _combusting_ car, gracefully leapt atop a relatively tall rock that was at a level above that of the vehicle. As a result of the evasive action he had undertaken, the hood of his cloak, which he had worn up to conceal his hair and face, came off, revealing his wavy, disheveled blond hair and his lightly bruised face. From his position, he could easily see the flames being spewed from the spokes of the car's thick wheels, as well as the two large exhaust pipes protruding from the back of the four-wheeler expelling copious amounts of dark gray fumes as it burned its fuel.

When it came to a stop just below him, the passenger door opened up to reveal a buxom blonde that immediately called out to him, "Hey! Did you come from the castle?"

Naruto didn't answer her though, just staring at her suspiciously before instead asking a question of his own. "Who... are you?" he inquired, raising his voice so that she could hear him.

She scowled at him, although not because of the question he posed but at the fact that he had ignored her own. She did understand the skepticism on his part, though, since they were quite obviously strangers to one another. "I'm Lucy! And this is Natsu!" she said, pointing to a pink-haired boy with goggles who remained in the vehicle. "We're from Fairy Tail!"

'...Fairy Tail?' he wondered, closing his right eye (along with his already closed left one) in thought as he tried to place an image to the name. What was Fairy Tail? His mind was eventually able to supply an answer. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't hold back the smirk at hearing her vocal reaction to seeing his eye, which was a surprised gasp.

"So... you're enemies of the King," he said, peering down at the two.

"Ye... yeah," the girl said with a hesitant smile that he assumed she intended to be confident, but instead only made her appear anxious.

Satisfied with her answer, he leapt down from his perch, landing in a crouch next to her and the car. Up close, he was somewhat surprised at the young woman's appearance. Her clothes, while a bit revealing, weren't all that eye-popping compared to some of the stuff he'd seen women wear back home, but her physical features were quite noteworthy. Her eyes, especially: they were quite large, a feature that was apparent even with them being narrowed due to her wrinkling her brow at him. This was to say nothing of her breasts, though.

Those puppies were _huge._

Coughing in an effort to derail that less than innocent trail of thought, the blond introduced himself. "My name is Naruto," he said seriously. "And yes, I did come from the castle. I just got outta there, in fact."

When the girl recoiled, he had thought she noticed just _where_ his eyes were directed, but that fear was put to rest when she pointed an offended finger at him, saying, "O-Oi! What the hell's up with that voice of yours?! Are you some kinda _seducer_ or something?!"

Naruto looked at her in surprise, saying, "Huh? What're you talking about? There's nothing wrong with my voice!" Listening to himself, his cadence seemed similar, but it also sounded so damn foreign to his ears.

It was really the spoken language he now made use of rather than the sound of his voice that he found strange; his vocalizations had always had a raspy quality to them. While an annoyance in his youth (often to the point of self-consciousness) it became a boon after his voice deepened as a result of undergoing the inevitable process known as puberty — a lot of the women he'd met while travelling with Jiraiya found his speech to be surprisingly attractive. He fondly remembered how his late teacher would lament having a 'normal' voice, rather than a 'sexy' one like his _totally_ undeserving student. In that vein, he also recalled the white-haired man scolding him for wasting such a 'gift'; according to the amorous sage, the blond should have been using his so-called Kami-given talents to seduce nubile young women rather than waste his time proclaiming his love for that 'frustrating' pink-haired teammate of his. The fact that his teacher had turned out to be right in that regard was yet another thing for him to regret.

Nevertheless, it would take some getting used to; even though he now fully understood their language, it still seemed a bit strange to him.

Lucy shrugged, waving off his denial carelessly. When he was shouting (or just talking loudly), the husky lilt of his voice was actually diminished, so she didn't really notice it until he had come within arm's reach of her and subsequently lowered his voice. She had been taken by surprise when she heard him speak up close at a lower volume; it seemed this was how his voice was normally. As far as she was concerned, well... she'd never admit as much, but it sounded kinda _hot._

She couldn't help but smirk at that; that, as well as his appreciative gaze, she noted as she quirked an eyebrow in amusement. While she was pleased with his answer, she was even more pleased with the way his eyes had seemed to linger on her breasts. She was tempted to tease him by pushing her chest out, but refrained from doing so when she internally reasoned that the spiky-haired blond would be incapable of comprehending what it was she wanted to say.

Yes, her breasts _were_ that magnificent, and she knew it.

"Okay... you said your name was Naruto, right? Strange, but whatever. Come with us, all right?" She was already getting into the vehicle, as if him boarding it was a foregone conclusion.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Naruto said, holding up and waving a hand in protest. "We _literally_ just met, so there's no way I'd just go with you and hop in... _that_. And that's before I even consider the fact that it's on _fire_."

"Heh heh," Lucy chuckled sheepishly. She wasn't used to having many people shrugging off her assertive behaviour like it was nothing. She had honestly just tried to shoehorn him into the back of Natsu's car not five minutes after meeting him. A part of her was actually impressed that he didn't just comply with her like a great majority of the people she knew would have.

"And as far as my name is concerned," Naruto added, making a show of sniffing at the girl, "well... it's not like _your_ names are anything normal. I mean, what is 'Lucy'?"

"Hey! That's a perfectly normal name!" she exclaimed.

"And you... what was your name?" he asked the rose-haired driver. "Nas-su?"

"Oi! It's _Natsu! _Fireball Natsu!" the boy shouted, speaking for the first time.

"...That's a stupid nickname, but whatever. What are you guys doing here? Are you here to attack the castle? ...Are you here to _fight?_ Wait, hold on. _Can_ you even fight?"

"Of course we can fight," Natsu said sternly from his seat behind the wheel. "But as for us launching an attack on the palace? The answer's no. What, are you trying to rope us in on some dumb-ass plan of yours to fight the Royal Army or something? If so, you're stupider than you look. I mean, look at you. As if _you_ could defeat the Royal Army, and on you're own, too! No way. You'll just get your ass kicked _again_, so don't drag us down with you."

Naruto, who was still somewhat bloodied and bruised, smirked at his skepticism, as well as the fact that the paranoid little punk had leapt to such a conclusion. "That's pretty big talk, coming from you. Why don't you come out here and say that to my face?"

When the pink-haired teenager turned his head away nervously, the blond laughed. "Don't tell me what I can or can't do. Just 'cause you're weak, doesn't mean we all are. I mean, why didn't you just say you couldn't fight in the first place instead of making all these excuses? You're wasting my time, here," he said, laughing it up at the goggle-wearing boy's expense. He loved riling up people who were antagonistic toward him for no good reason.

Natsu bristled at the insulting tone, but Naruto had already turned to Lucy, having decided to ignore the young man known as _Fireball_. He was about to ask her a question, but a loud roar coming from the skies above sounded out.

"Shit!" Lucy said. "A Legion! It's... it's that bitch, Knightwalker!"

Recognizing the name from his own recollection as well as what he'd heard from the city's denizens, Naruto gave Lucy a dirty look, saying, "Idiots. They're here because of you!"

"What?! Who are you calling an idiot, ya big dumb blond?!" the girl said angrily, stepping up into his personal space. He was taller than her, so she ended up having to crane her neck in order to get up in his face.

"You!" Naruto snarled, damn near mashing his forehead against hers in what an outside observer would find to be an amusing bid to get her to back off; unsurprisingly enough, she didn't. He continued, pointing at their car as he said, "Your stupid _thing_ here was so damn loud they tracked you down, and now they've found _me_ too! Oh, and in case you didn't notice, you also happen to be blonde, ya little twit!"

"Oi! If you're so strong, why are you actin' so scared? Back up your words and kick their asses!" she said, stepping away from their little staring contest as she got into the passenger seat of Natsu's car.

"Hmph. Cowards," he muttered, incredibly vexed at the duo's foolishness, especially the girl. She had the gall to call him scared while she was in the process of taking _cover?_ Turning toward the incoming creature with a dismissive snort, Naruto decided that, unlike them, it was time for him to put his money where his mouth was. He wasn't feeling overly confident given his minor case of exhaustion and empty stomach, not to mention his less than ideal chakra levels, but he'd have to make-do without those necessities for at least a little while longer.

When the Legion landed, its two passengers got off almost casually, their surprise at his not fleeing from them casually hidden behind a collective veneer resembling that of a cool confidence. Naruto's sharp eyes saw through it though; they must have thought him to be like his two new acquaintances that were currently cowering inside that vehicle of theirs. He'd have to set them straight in that regard by defeating them.

A woman... and a man-sized cat. Those were his opponents. The woman was scantily clad and had long, wavy red hair and a perpetual scowl, while the cat, which happened to be the bigger than even him, was decked out in armor and had a stern bearing about him. They were both armed with weapons: the woman with a strange claw-like spear that was as tall as she was, and the cat-man with a ridiculously large sword many times larger than he himself was.

The large cat peered at him through the visored helmet covering its face, while the woman took in their surroundings, leaving quite a bit of distance between the two and the recently escaped blond, and even more between them and the two Fairy Tail members.

While he recognized them, he knew that they ultimately were less in the know than Byro and their potentate; they were really more concerned with the military aspects of governing Edolas. Naruto grinned; while he knew on some level that he'd have to make quick work of them given the fact that he was without his full complement of chakra reserves, it would nevertheless be interesting to see how he'd match up with them in a fight.

* * *

[|||]

The two Fairy Tail members, despite their guild's reputation for cowardice, didn't run, although with them both being inside Natsu's four-wheeled magical vehicle, they were as safe as they could be under the circumstances.

"Oi! Lucy! Why aren't we going back to the guild? Who cares what happens to this schmuck? Let's leave!" Natsu said, his usual in-vehicle bravado starting to wane in the face of his anxiety at their current situation. He wanted no part of Erza Knightwalker.

"No!" Lucy said. "Don't you remember? This is the guy Lisanna was worried about! We can't leave him, even if he is a jerk!"

While a small part of her was worried, a much larger part of the blonde was very much interested in seeing if the snarky blond's bite could match his bark. Because they barely considered themselves acquaintances, if Naruto got his ass kicked, such an outcome would ultimately be no skin off their backs. While they'd be hard pressed to save him, Lucy was confident that she and Natsu could swoop in and get him the hell out of dodge if things went awry. If anything, Lucy assured herself, this ass-kicking would just be something to lord over the arrogant blond when they got back to the guild.

"Yes we can, and not just because he's a jerk! Lisanna doesn't have to know about this! Besides, look! He's gonna get _killed!_ He has to fight two Captains, and one of them's Erza! Aargh, we're wasting our time here!" Natsu shouted, slamming his hands on the steering wheel in his frustration. His pleading with Lucy was all in vain, though.

"We're not leaving him, alright?! C'mon, let's just see how this plays out!" Lucy insisted.

Natsu heaved a despondent sigh of defeat. He never could refuse the pushy girl, and because of his weakness, he'd now have to wait out this fight.

* * *

[|||]

"Hmph. Fool," the redhead said, sneering cruelly. "Did you really think that you could escape from the palace undetected? We keep a constant watch on the underground passageway through which you escaped; nothing goes in or out without our knowledge."

"Really?" Naruto said, feigning surprise. He was not surprised in the least at the revelation, pleased that his unorthodox plan had worked. By sending a doppelgänger of his through the castle while he himself had escaped, one could infer that said doppelgänger had served as a distraction or diversion for him, but in actuality, the opposite was the case here. If he himself were able to draw attention to his person and, in effect, 'lure out' the main opposition as far as those who could potentially trouble and or derail his clone were concerned, then he'd consider this a successful venture, so long as the clone accomplished its task.

"Don't play dumb!" she snarled angrily. "You obviously think too highly of yourself if you think you can defeat me!" It seemed that she was insightful in more than just battle if she were able to figure out his lack of sincerity so quickly, although she obviously couldn't glean exactly what it was he was thinking.

"I don't think I can defeat _you_," Naruto said blithely. "I think I can defeat _both_ of you."

In response to his boastful proclamation, she levelled her wicked-looking spear at him, meeting his one-eyed gaze with a menacing glare of her own, her long bangs covering more than half of her face. "Pantherlily, stand back. I'll finish him in one move."

The bipedal panther grunted, taking a half step back as he shouldered his blade. He knew better than to get in her way when she was like this, which, these days, was practically all the time.

Her weapon all of a sudden started glowing, first a bright yellow, then a bright blue, as it morphed into an aquamarine blue blade with three points, a silver orb, and a multitude of crystals surrounding it. The rapidly darkening surroundings (a result of the twilight hour) were illuminated by the glow of her bladed weapon. Aside from that, visibility, or lack thereof, would prove to be a factor in this fight.

All of a sudden, the spear started charging power in the form of a gigantic concussive blast. "RRRAGHHH!" she shouted as she unleashed the signature magical technique of her Vacuum Spear: Mel Force.

Naruto, somewhat expecting an attack of this nature, opened his left eye, quickly raising his left hand as if he intended to ward off the attack, but that was not the case; he in fact, welcomed it.

This was a great opportunity to test the extent of the similarities between the chakra he now knew on an instinctive level and the magic he had only recently learned of. Depending on the ease through which he absorbed this attack, he would be able to infer just how much dominion over this magical energy he had and whether he could increase his ability to control it, or even make _use_ of it in the first place.

Without saying a word, he decided to use the Fūjutsu Kyūin (Blocking Technique Absorption Seal), applying the Preta Path technique with the intent of using it defensively in order to absorb the attack. Unfortunately for him, though, it was not wholly effective by any stretch of the imagination.

As a result, due to his not expecting such a development, he had been sent sprawling by the blunt force attack before regaining his footing by using his exceptional athleticism to execute a reverse somersault.

For reasons he couldn't really fathom, he had managed to absorb only a small portion of the attack, which was the intrinsic property that magic and chakra had in common. This single aspect that the two brands of energy similarly had had been enough to pluck him from his home world, but it wasn't enough for him to manipulate on a smaller scale.

**"The answer is clear, Naruto. The larger the energy source, the more of this 'similar property' there is to absorb. Also, you're looking at this incorrectly, if only because you're not taking into account the difference in perspectives. Obviously, there is a difference between a source of magic trying to incorporate chakra, and a source of chakra trying to do the same with magic. My advice: don't bother. This energy called 'magic' is... strange. It would be better for the both of us if you stopped playing around with it." **

'Really? Aren't you curious, though? There's something to be learned here, I think.'

**"...Only you would be eager to learn in the event that this 'learning' involves some type of new power or jutsu."**

'Yeah, and? What's so wrong with that?' Naruto asked.

**"...Feh. I can't be bothered, just let me sleep."**

'Yeah, yeah. Enjoy your nap. Hater.'

**"I would if you weren't trying to think so hard. Have you ever slept through an earthquake? 'Cause that's what it's like trying to get some shut-eye in this empty head of yours, all the while with you wracking your brain for something you have zero knowledge of."**

'Oi! That ain't funny!'

When he got no further response from the vulpine bijū, he returned his attention to his two opponents, saying, "Let me return the favor." Snapping an open palm in their direction, his chakra flared as he used Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God), the Deva Path technique being utilized in its usual offensive manner as he focused it primarily on the redhead, thereby giving her a taste of something similar to her little attack, as well as testing his control over the technique.

The attack was more widely encompassing than he would have liked, though, as while it had sent the woman flying bodily over the edge of the cliff, it had also repulsed the large cat/man hybrid enough so that he was sent crashing off the edge as well, joining his companion in the sheer drop off of the cliff facing the Royal City.

Closing his left eye again with a huff, Naruto chuckled, certain that that would keep them out of his hair for quite a bit of time. 'It served her right, boasting like that... what an arrogant woman,' he thought, sneering at her hubris.

Turning back toward the two Fairy Tail mages, he saw that the blonde had clambered out of the combustible vehicle, while the pink-haired driver remained behind the wheel. When he saw their faces, though, he laughed. He couldn't hold back a smile at their astonished looks; he got a kick out of that sort of thing.

"Holy shit!" Lucy shouted, visibly ecstatic at what she had just seen. "That was _insane!_ You sent the bitch flying like a fucking rag doll! Oh god, that was incredible!"

Naruto, for his part, could only scratch the back of his head bashfully at the utterly effusive praise the extroverted girl was paying him. Sure, he knew they'd be impressed at seeing his aptitude for battle, but for her to start gushing, it must have really been something they'd never seen.

"How the hell could you use magic from your body like that? That shouldn't be possible," Natsu said from his flame-spewing vehicle, frowning heavily at the attention the normally abrasive young woman was paying her fellow blond.

Naruto wanted to smack himself. Like an idiot, he had forgotten that the only way people fought in this world was through the use of some weapon of some kind that stored their magic; for him to utilize 'magic' from his _body_ was, naturally, bound to raise more than few questions. He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by an embarrassingly loud rumbling noise emanating from within his abdominal cavity.

Bending slightly at the waist, he placed his left hand on his corresponding leg as he clutched his stomach with his right hand, groaning due to the discomfort that had just set in. All too quickly, it became apparent to him once more that he hadn't eaten for days. He was _starving. _

"Heh! So you're hungry, eh?" he heard the beautiful blonde say teasingly. When he looked up to meet her mirthful gaze, he felt his hopes rise slightly when she seemed to intimate that she had a solution to his problem, although her victorious smirk did give him cause to be wary.

Damned woman.

* * *

[|||]

Erza Knightwalker awoke with a growl as she threw the makeshift blanket draped over her form off of her. In her anger, her eyes had narrowed as she fixed a scathing glare on her companion, Pantherlily, who had the gall to fucking _tuck her in_ as if she were a spoiled brat. When he, unsurprisingly, appeared to be unfazed at her reaction, she huffed indignantly.

Standing up to her full height, she looked at the bulky Exceed, who had already extricated himself from his own semi-burial in the debris of what had once been part of the cliff side that had surrounded the outer reaches of the Royal City. He had discarded his cape, which was ruined from enduring the area-effect attack inflicted upon them (and used as her blanket), and decided to toss aside his helmet, as well. Holstering his Bustermarm Sword, he deactivated it, the red glowing lights being emitted from lacrimas on its hand guard fading as the blade retracted into it.

"About time you woke up," he said with a growl. "It was bad enough you lost, but did you have to lose so spectacularly? You were out for over an hour."

"Not another word out of you," she said, seething. "He defeated you as well, didn't he? That's why you're here keeping vigil over me instead of delivering the escaped prisoner back to the palace."

"He may have gotten the better of me, but I wasn't the one who was trying to make a show out of defeating him in one move. He's a foreign mage with a power so great the _Anima_ struggled to extract him alone. Clearly that has to count for something; don't be so surprised at the significant power he wields. You underestimated him, and it cost us both." When the crimson-haired woman sniffed at him, he merely shook his head in his exasperation. She'd come to rue it if she continued acting this way.

As for the tall Exceed, he himself couldn't help but feel... excited, at the prospect of a battle against a foreign warrior as powerful as the young man who had temporarily gotten the better of them.

"Come, Pantherlily," Erza said, as she picked up her own weapon, going about looking for their Legion in order to give chase to the escaped mages. "Let's give chase and pursue him. That man will _not_ escape us."

"Don't bother," he said with a scoff. "They're long gone."

Erza's back stiffened at his words. _"They?"_

"Our man hooked up with a couple of Fairies. A pink-haired boy and a blonde girl." When he saw her grind her teeth in anger, he quirked an eyebrow at her. "...I assume you know them?"

"...Natsu Dragion. Lucy Ashley," she said, her tone clipped. "I don't care about them, though. That man who got the better of us... he's the one I want."

Pantherlily smirked. "Get in line," he said, his smirk widening into a toothy grin as he imagined a good fight and, most importantly, a hard-fought victory. "This time, I'll be taking the lead."

Erza hesitated, peering at him through the red tresses draped over half of her face, before she nodded in a seemingly agreeable manner. "Very well. At the very least, you'll give me an opening to finish him should you fail," she said, her tone conveying that she expected just that to happen.

Pantherlily frowned. She sounded like sour grapes, obviously miffed that their shared opponent had so easily shrugged off the Vacuum Wave incarnation of her Ten Commandments Spear, and as a result clearly hoped that he defeated Pantherlily with just as much, if not more, ease as he did her.

"Just make sure you don't get in my way, Erza. Who knows, perhaps you'll learn just why it is that _I'm_ the First Magic War Division Commander of the Royal Army," the black Exceed said in an uncharacteristically boastful manner. Erza, being the Second Division Commander, merely harrumphed at that, and, in an effort to ignore him, walked briskly toward the cliff they had been thrown off of in order to get back to their Legion. Unable to let that remark slide, though, she turned back at him, obviously displeased with what he had said and, seeking to address it, responded, "You and I both know that such a distinction has no bearing on one's strength. It's an arbitrary ranking, plain and simple."

"Heh. You keep telling yourself that," Pantherlily replied.

Before Erza could make another comment in response, though, it occurred to her that they'd have to report this latest development to King Faust. Grumpily conveying as much to her fellow division commander, the two had almost reluctantly decided to return to the palace in order to quickly make their report as well as obtain the latest intel into Fairy Tail's latest location, but quickly dissuaded themselves from taking such a cowardly route. Where that rogue guild was, their quarry was sure to be close by; they'd be best served giving pursuit immediately, with the redhead's familiarity with the dark guild's tendencies sufficient for their purposes.

They were waylaid, though, when they heard some pitiable moaning from their respective communication lacrimas.

It must have been the remaining two Magic War Division Commanders, Sugarboy and Hughes. What had happened to them? Continuing to make their way up the cliff side and return to their Legion, Erza and Pantherlily (who had made use of his _Aera _magic in order to fly up there) listened in on their defeated comrades, the raspy voice of Sugarboy sounding out in their ears.

"E... Er... za..." he rasped, wheezing as his voice barely registered in her ears. He sounded to be in a bad way, both him and Hughes. The way they sounded, it would seem that they were in dire straits; if they didn't receive medical attention soon, they were done for, she thought callously.

"What is it, Sugarboy?" she prodded, uncaring of his well-being. "What are you trying to say?" Pantherlily, who had been standing stock-still at the top of the rocky outcropping, had now joined her side as she had finally scaled the cliff and made her way to the Legion.

"Li... Lily... Hi... his... na... name..." he whispered with great difficulty. "...His... n-name... is..."

"What? What's his name?" Pantherlily urged.

"Uzu..." he tried to say, but was cut off by a wet, hacking cough. "Uzu... maki... . His name is... Uzumaki..." was all he managed to utter before his connection was cut off.

Erza didn't waste any time, promptly dashing toward the Legion as her scarlet hair flowed behind her. Once she had boarded it, she promptly began prepping it for takeoff, since it had remained idle for a significant amount of time. Pantherlily, though, remained standing where he was, staring contemplatively at the ground.

'Uzumaki... of all the things to tell us, why tell us his name? It's a strange name, too... but so long as he's strong, I couldn't care less what his name is,' he thought. His colleagues had often made remarks to him concerning his demeanor, referring to him as grumpy and unfriendly, but... considering how much the Kingdom of Edolas had been lacking in excitement as of late, could anyone blame him? Now, a foreign warrior had been plucked from his own world to serve as a glorified human battery for the King, to supply the land of Edolas with magic, and he was fighting back? If you were looking for a fight, you couldn't script anything better than this, as far as the battle-adept Exceed was concerned.

After a brief moment, though, another thought occurred to the anomalous Exceed, which prompted him to urgently attempt to contact Sugarboy remotely. Correctly surmising that the reason they knew their opponent's name was because they had actually encountered him, he shouted, "Sugarboy! Tell me! How was it that the boy was able to fight you and Hughes while fighting Erza and I at the same time? How could he have been in two places at once?!"

He received no answer; his ally was unresponsive, maybe dead for all he knew.

Pantherlily snapped out of his thoughts, and, looking up, saw the three glowing celestial bodies of Edolas lighting up the night sky, causing what would have been a pitch black night in their absence to instead be a relatively bright night. Manifesting his large set of wings that were angelic in appearance, he once more made use of the _Aera_ magic all Exceed were capable of in order to fly up and up and onto the back of the Legion that Erza had already begun to spur skyward. Retracting his wings, he took a seat on the dark creature's back as it finally took to the skies as she directed it West in the direction of where the dark guild, Fairy Tail, was last estimated to have relocated.

Shoving aside his concerns, Pantherlily decided to focus on the excitement he felt at the prospect of a fight with the seemingly powerful mage. With this, he would see what he was truly made of; once they located him, not even Erza would stand in his way. Despite knowing that she was likely to be thinking along the same lines, he smirked.

'I hope you prepare yourself accordingly, Uzumaki, for things will not be so heavily in your favor when we next meet,' the burly Exceed thought.

When the time came for them to finally do battle, all bets were off.

* * *

[|||]

(Later — Fairy Tail Edolas)

Naruto found himself seated at his own table, plates of food placed in front of him as he ate rapidly, glad that he had agreed to come to this place, if only for the food.

'This place' was an oddly designed building in the shape of a large, gnarled tree. It was bright green in color, which went along well with the exotic coloration of most everything else he had seen in this world. The moment he had set foot inside the building, he had been surrounded by a number of strange people who had swarmed him in an odd bid to intimidate him; unsurprisingly enough, it was wholly ineffective. Their standoffish behavior ceased, though, when Lucy and Natsu, the blonde and pink-haired duo who had brought him here, assured their friends that he was no enemy, albeit grudgingly in the case of the latter; it seemed he still harboured some resentment for the whiskered warrior. Once they had done their part in quelling the furor risen due to his arrival, the two of them had made themselves scarce, departing for parts unknown.

It was then that he, without warning, was engulfed in an exuberant hug by an attractively dainty young woman with short, white hair. Her large, bright blue eyes had glistened with tears as she chattered on and on about how she had thought him to be a goner.

When he had looked down at her strangely, as if to ask, 'Do I know you?', she seemed to realize just why it was that her behavior toward him was so odd. All too soon, she had abruptly released him as she introduced herself, sheepishly explaining how it was that she knew him; it was an introduction he had halfheartedly returned, what with his stomach growling intermittently all the while. After she had managed to get her companions to back off, she had ushered him into a seat at a vacant table toward the back of the guild hall. She had then placed a plate filled with food in front of him, all the while smiling happily at him as he tried his best not to slobber all over the table as he inhaled the absolutely delectable aroma of perhaps the most delicious plate of food he had ever laid eyes on. Saying as much may have been an exaggeration, given the state his hunger had left him in, but the food was exquisite all the same. He didn't know which was better: the meal itself, or the fact that there was actually more where it came from. Assured of the impending arrival of more food with which he could gorge himself on, he chowed down happily.

In spite of the otherwise warm reception, he nevertheless took note of the fact that he was receiving several suspicious glares from a few of the more surly members of this 'Fairy Tail'. When they had all eventually ceased their unfriendly stares, almost all of them grudgingly, he never knew, what with his primary concern centered around satiating two plus days' worth of hunger.

Little did he know, though, that the spectacle of a grown man putting away plate after plate of food (all the while heedless of the mess he was making of himself) had worked wonders as far as lessening the animosity directed toward him was concerned. Before long, the glares had turned into looks of absolute awe, and before he knew it, people were cheering him on, imploring him to keep going as if it were some kind of contest, which, in a sense, it was.

Scores of Fairy Tail members were taking bets on exactly how much the gourmandizing newcomer would eat, of when he'd finally have had his fill. From what he knew, the over-under as far as how many plates he cleaned off was set at twenty. Polishing off plate number fourteen, he grinned. Were they underestimating him? He'd clear that hurdle easily!

Eventually, though, his attention was caught by Lisanna (who, as far as his stomach was concerned, was his glorious white-haired angel who had diligently brought him plate after plate of food), who was now filling the large wooden mug he had been using to drink water (which was actually quite sweet; he'd never heard of flavored water before) with a foamy, brown liquid that looked a lot like alcohol.

"Insane! Who'd have thought you'd be such a glutton?" the beautiful, buxom blonde he had grown accustomed to verbally sparring with said in awe as she popped in out of nowhere, draping her arm around his neck.

Naruto, totally caught off guard by the energetic young woman, what with him being wholly occupied by the expansive meal being steadily served to him, started hacking and coughing as he choked on the food he was halfway through swallowing. Fortunately, he was soon brought relief when the girl responsible for him choking in the first place started enthusiastically slapping his back in an effort to get him to hack up the chewed up food obstructing his airway. When he finally did so, he had a glass of water pushed onto his lips by the short-haired waitress, who was simultaneously scolding Lucy for startling her fellow blond.

When he had finally finished clearing his throat, he snapped a glare at the sheepish blonde, who had reluctantly apologized for inadvertently alarming him. She had explained that she had temporarily left to tie up some loose ends, but he didn't pry, not really caring about whatever it was she was up to.

"You seem to be a lot more cheerful now that you have gotten some food into that bottomless pit you call a stomach," Lucy said casually, reasoning that his previously churlish behaviour was due to his extreme hunger. He didn't bother correcting her, since she was at least partially correct. "The way you acted earlier, I had you pegged as the suspicious sort... so why exactly are you so easily eating all this grub of ours? Wouldn't a cynical asshole like you think we poisoned it or something?"

"Does this look like the kinda face that would serve me a poisoned meal?" Naruto asked as he referred to the blushing Lisanna, managing a smirk in between mouthfuls of food.

"No," Lucy said, laughing at the blue-eyed girl's expense as she conceded the point to the whisker-marked teenager.

"Honestly, though? I have nothing to fear. Poison doesn't really work on me, y'know."

"Really?" the two girls asked in concert.

"Yeah. Of course, it may may me feel a little sick or queasy, but I'd just shake it off." He was hardy like that.

Lucy whistled appreciatively, "You're not lying, are ya?" When he shook his head, she said, "That's... kinda cool, actually."

She had then tried to keep the conversation going with him, but it had quickly become one-sided, what with him seeming to have rediscovered his appetite as he resumed his consumption of his seemingly never-ending meal, which was going on plate number eighteen.

Eventually, Lucy had stopped trying to get him to make small talk with her, which he obviously wasn't interested in (he was more concerned with eating the food Lisanna had kept ferrying to him), so she gruffly excused herself, deliberately bumping his shoulder with her hip in a passive-aggressive attempt to make her displeasure known.

Naruto scoffed. "Feh. Women," he muttered under his breath. Why were all the beautiful ones so troublesome? Perhaps he'd ask Shikamaru when he got back home.

Before long, he was joined at his table by the hard-working Lisanna, who eventually had to put a stop to all the food she had been serving him, afraid that he'd throw it all up if he continued, since he had shown no signs of stopping. It would be a valid concern were he the average person, but twenty-two plates of food was hardly a drop in the bucket as far as his previously neglected appetite was concerned.

"Wow! You must have been really hungry, huh?" Lisanna asked softly, giggling at the look of bliss on his face at having enjoyed such a fabulous meal. That saying her real sister used to tell her in her youth about men thinking primarily with their stomachs undoubtedly rang true here. Of course, 'Demon Mira' had also been fond of saying that men thought with certain other part of their bodies, as well, but that was too vulgar for her to even contemplate.

Where before Naruto had tuned her out (with her bubbly high-pitched voice actually serving to annoy him in his hunger-agitated state), he now actually registered what it was she said, her voice seemingly having taken on a mellifluous timbre more pleasing to the ears.

...Perhaps it was the food in his belly that allowed for him to be more appreciative of such things.

"Ah~! Yeah, that sure hit the spot! Thanks a lot!" he said, finally addressing her directly. Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt like he had made a mistake; when he saw her eyes light up victoriously at her getting him to respond, he _knew_ he had made a mistake. That, combined with her cheeks taking on a rosy hue... it seemed she liked his voice as well, based on her reaction, or maybe it was just his imagination. He _hoped _it was his imagination.

...Yeah, it probably wasn't.

"No problem!" she said, answering cheerfully yet tremulously, obviously pleased at eliciting a response out of the teenager who had seemed to be more content with shovelling food into his mouth than using it for speech.

"...Yeah," he said, before apologizing with a smile. "Sorry about all that. That musta been quite the sight, eh? Heh heh..."

"N-no! It's okay!" Lisanna said, her heart racing at the killer combination of his kind smile and his husky voice. The bruising and the swelling on his face had mostly faded away as well, and with the sustenance he had garnered thanks to the meal she had prepared for him, he no longer looked pale and gaunt; his face had regained its color, and his bearing had done a complete one-eighty. "I'm glad you liked it!"

She was actually quite pleased at that. While consuming food in such a ravenous fashion was... unappealing, to say the least, it was in some ways a bit endearing for someone to like her cooking to the point of making themselves out to be so gluttonous. Of course, her Edolas sister, Mirajane, helped with the preparation of the meal; she was particularly talented in that regard.

"So, um... obviously you're okay since you escaped, but... what happened to you after they took you to the palace? We did see them take you, you know. How did you get away?"

Naruto, after a brief moment, decided it wouldn't be too bad of an idea if he told her what had happened. It was the least he could do after what she had done for him, and perhaps this could prove to be beneficial for him as well, with her potentially providing some external insight into their mutual enemies if there was anything she gleaned from what it was he told her. Before he told her everything, though, he decided to give her the abridged version for the shock and and awe factor; he always got a kick out of the expressions people made when they were surprised at or impressed by something he said or did.

"They put me in some jail cell, chained to the wall and all that, but it didn't matter; I just broke out and escaped the palace," the blond said, shrugging, acting as if it wasn't too big of a deal. Of course, for someone of his caliber, it wasn't, but she didn't exactly know that.

When he turned his one-eyed gaze toward his cute acquaintance, he was met with a look of astonishment from her, which managed to elicit a bit of an arrogant chuckle from him; proving people wrong, impressing and surprising them... he _lived_ for stuff like this.

"Y-you act like it isn't that big of a deal," Lisanna said, unable to keep her eyes from widening at his unbelievable claim. She had inferred as much from both his body language and his flippant attitude regarding the matter, but it was still impressive if true.

"That's because it's not," Naruto said with a smug smile. When the girl giggled at his bravado, his smile grew; he was starting to enjoy conversing with her. Outside of her (and maybe Lucy), when was the last time he was shown such attention from an individual of the female persuasion, and one who genuinely seemed to like him, too?

Again, this may have been his stomach talking.

At a distance, Mirajane smiled as she watched the two hold an amiable conversation. Perhaps she had been a bit harsh in her dismissal of the adolescent blond earlier; she'd have to apologize to Lisanna for that. Best of all, though, was that the two of them seemed to be hitting it off. She couldn't have been happier for her little sister, who had seemed to have fallen into a funk that even she couldn't make heads or tails of. Companionship, whether romantic or platonic, worked wonders in this way.

Pleased with the way things had worked out, she continued making an effort to do her part in the guild by resuming her duties, all in spite of her bruised leg. The long-haired woman giggled to herself, knowing that Lisanna would have probably spent the time daydreaming and losing her concentration at what it was she was doing, which was the hopelessly repetitive task of stacking dishes. Even she was surprised, though, that she was so quickly able to be up and about after sustaining that nasty injury from Erza Knightwalker. She was limping, sure, but it was barely noticeable.

"Wh-what? Nee-chan, you should be resting! Just... just look at you!"

...Okay, perhaps it wasn't as discreet as she had thought, but she internally knew that the only reason her discomfort was noticed was because it was her brother, Elfman, who was doing the noticing; unsurprisingly, with him being her younger sibling, he knew her incredibly well, as well as she did he.

Nonetheless, his observation was accurate; the woman could barely put any weight on her leg, although she managed to stand by placing more of her weight on her non-injured leg. Even so, it was painful to watch for the fretful Elfman.

"Nee-chan, please! Don't hurt yourself even more... . A-ah! Careful, nee-chan! Le-let me do it!" Elfman cried, on the verge of shedding tears at the sight of his elder sister trying her best to go about her duties in spite of her injuries.

"Elfman, please, I'm fine. I'm the only one who can help Lisanna, so don't you worry," Mirajane said, wincing slightly as she tried to assuage her brother.

"Hmph. Trying to tell your elder sister what to do?" Droy asked sternly. "She's tough! Let her do what she wants!"

"Yeah, Elfman. Shape up!" Jet said energetically in agreement.

When Elfman started sniffling again, they snapped. "Huh?! Why are you crying AGAIN?! We didn't even _do_ anything this time!"

"My, my," Cana said, covering the smile on her face with her hand as was typical of her demure nature. "Don't be too harsh with the boy. He's just worried for his sister, after all."

"Hahaha! Kind as always, Cana-san! Say, how about you share a drink with us? Just this once! Whaddaya say?!" a man with neatly combed hair and round-framed glasses said.

"Now, now, Macao-san," Cana said gently, folding her hands in her lap, "you know how I... dislike alcohol." After the man had respectfully heeded her wishes, the brunette turned toward the white-haired barmaid, saying, "I must say, Mira-san, I never pegged you to be a such romantic."

"Ah, well, what can I say?" she said bashfully, correctly inferring that the prim and proper brunette was referring to the dashing newcomer and her lovestruck little sister. "I suppose I am quite hopeless in that regard."

Mirajane turned away from her, though, when she noticed the approach of an attractive, self-assured blue-haired woman, who had a sheet of paper clutched in her hand. She was wearing a white sailor-suit top with gold trim and a wine red tie, her shirt tied off just below her impressive chest in order to reveal as much of her creamy white midriff as possible. She also had an ultramarine miniature top hat (which was tilted on her head) and miniskirt (which was tied with a golden belt) combination going on, along with fishnet tights, high heels and small white gloves that covered her hands.

"Mira-san, Juvia has chosen a job," the young woman said.

"Of course, thanks for telling me, Juvia."

"Juvia-chan, wait! I... I kinda wanna go with you, too..." Gray Surge said, rubbing the back of his head diffidently.

When she saw him, Juvia just barely managed to hold back an exasperated sigh. "Do you honestly think that Juvia would take you with her on a job with you looking like _that?_ How many layers are you wearing, anyway?"

"But... but Natsu and Lucy go out together on jobs all the time! Can't we go together just this once?" Gray asked, pleading with her.

This time, Juvia couldn't hold back her sigh. How many times were they gonna do this song and dance? "Gray. Just _looking_ at you makes me warm. Come see me when you're wearing less."

"Bu-but I get cold easily!"

Juvia merely shook her head at the typical response from the young man, before noticing the blond man speaking with Lisanna at the other end of the hall. As she made her way toward the two, hips swaying as the comically bundled up young man waddled behind her, she said, "You should be more like our _guest_ here. He's dressed pretty nicely, and most importantly, he _doesn't_ have dozens of layers on." As she said this, she plopped herself down on the seat next to him as she hooked her right arm around his left, hugging it against her ample chest; this action caused the bundled-up teenager to seethe angrily at the sight. Either the woman actually liked the way the foreigner dressed, or she was seeking to make the oddly dressed dark-haired youth jealous.

Lisanna personally thought that it was a little bit of both.

Ignoring Gray's huff of indignation (although she herself was a bit miffed at the sight as well), Lisanna had wanted to ask Naruto just where it was he had gotten such nice clothes, but was cut off by a certain belligerent blonde, who to everyone's surprise, was just as annoyed at the blue-haired young woman's blatant attempt at flirting with the newcomer.

"Oi! Who the hell do you think you are, ya dumb tramp?" Lucy said angrily. When Juvia coolly quirked an eyebrow at her, as if to ask, 'Who, me?', she damn near almost lost it.

Juvia, ever the cool customer, swiftly nipped Lucy's vexation in the bud, saying, "Nothing personal, Lucy, but Levy had promised Juvia something worthwhile, so long as Juvia did this to annoy you."

_"What?!"_

"Yeah. Just look at her, yukking it up with Jet and Droy. She's laughing at _you."_

"THAT BITCH!" Lucy yelled, storming off in the direction of the guild's resident mechanic.

"Impressive," Naruto said, praising the woman on his arm. "You sure know how to manipulate her..."

"...Juvia," she finished, correctly guessing that he was fishing for her name. "And yes, that's one way Juvia can divert her ire. Juvia does the same with Levy."

"Heh, that's pretty clever," Naruto said, chuckling. "But won't she figure out that you lied?"

"As if," Juvia replied, sniffing at what he was implying. "Sure, Levy will deny it, but they loathe each other so much that Lucy won't believe her. It's my word against hers, and Lucy will _always_ take my word for it if Levy's the alternative. Again, the same applies in the opposite case."

Nodding at that, Naruto said, "Um... you can let go of me now..." He was referring to the fact that she still had his arm trapped in between her breasts.

"...Do you want Juvia to let you go?" the blue-haired beauty asked slowly, squeezing his arm into her bosom.

"Ehehe..." Naruto chuckled nervously; he didn't know whether to be aroused at the woman's boldness, or wary of it. Naturally, he settled for an uncomfortable combination of the two.

"Where did you get those clothes, anyway?" Lisanna asked in a loud and abrupt manner, her annoyance at the sight bleeding into her voice as she tried diverting Naruto's attention from the woman's forwardness. "These, uh... these look like the work of Royal City tailors..."

"Royal City?" he asked, trying his best to ignore the pleasurable feeling of Juvia's soft chest molding against his arm. "You mean that huge as hell city where the palace is?" When the girls nodded, he said, "Yeah, I needed some clothes since my old ones were destroyed, and these looked pretty nice, so I took them."

What surprised the two girls was how... uncaringly, Naruto had said that. Juvia was suitably amazed at that, remarking how impressive it was that he had not only stolen the clothes, but that he had taken such nicely fitting threads that all blended well together. Naruto, for his part, didn't think much of what she said; he wasn't a fashion buff by any stretch of the imagination. He just wanted some decent clothes, so that was what he took.

Lisanna, though, had a far different reaction.

"Wait, so you... you _stole_ them?" the short-haired girl said, surprised.

"Yeah, and? What of it?" was his flippant reply.

"That's... that's not a good thing to do, Naruto! You shouldn't steal!"

"Oh? And why shouldn't I have?" he asked challengingly. "They took me prisoner, they marked me a criminal, _just because they could_. Hell yeah I stole from them, and I'd do it again. Serves those bastards right!"

"That's what I'm talkin' about! Show those losers that they ain't shit!" Lucy cheered, her hair and clothes disheveled from her encounter with the equally feisty Levy. Sure enough, she seemed to have forgotten Juvia's transgression against her, with the alluringly dressed young woman having finally released Naruto's arm from its enjoyable fleshy prison.

Lisanna could only sweat drop at how defensive he got over his actions, as well as the fact that Lucy would so whole-heartedly vocalize her support of such petty larceny. It seemed Naruto was big on getting even with anyone who wronged him, which was understandable, but he had gotten a bit worked up over it, his voice becoming incredibly heated. Lucy clearly wasn't helping things, seeing as how she was encouraging him all the while.

"So, um... how exactly did you escape, Naruto?" Lisanna eventually asked, wisely changing the subject after he had visibly calmed down from his righteous indignation.

Naruto smirked. It wouldn't hurt to impress these girls with a bit of a tale, would it? Part of him was feeling like he should imitate his late master Jiraiya when he entertained and captivated his lady friends with his grandiose tales of valor. The blond was planning on leaving anyway, so he decided that he may as well leave them a lasting impression.

...The good kind, of course.

* * *

[|||]

"Your Majesty," a nameless guard of the First platoon greeted as he bowed before the King in the Royal Palace Throne Room, "we have urgent news to report." He was flanked by his fellow guards from each of the four Magical Warfare Corps, as well as some from the Legion Corps; they all stood in formation before King Faust as he sat back on his throne.

"Out with it," he barked.

"...Byro-sama is dead, your Majesty."

_"...Dead?_ Did I hear that right? Byro... is _dead?"_

"...Yes, your Majesty," the guard said uneasily.

Faust was baffled. This certainly qualified as a most unexpected development. "How... how could such a thing come to pass?" he asked. What could explain the occurrence of such a thing?

"That's just it, your Majesty," the guard said. "There's no obvious signs of trauma on Byro-sama's body. It's as if he passed away in his sleep. Here's the autopsy, if you'd like to see for yourself..."

"I don't care about that!" the King snapped. He didn't care how it was that Byro died. All that mattered was that he _did_ die. Despite his less-than admirable qualities, Byro was an exemplary subordinate. He was as invaluable as his four War Commanders, if not more so, simply because of his work with the _Anima_ magic and, most importantly, _Dorma Anim._

Just the thought of his secret weapon gave him pause. It was still... incomplete. While it was almost ready, it wasn't there yet. And, most importantly, it was _Byro_ who was the driving force behind its formation, the one who would help ensure its success.

"Who was it? Who was it that could have killed my Chief of Staff?" he asked. Did they even know?

"U-um... y...your Majesty..." squeaked a small voice from behind the group of guards. When Faust peered in the direction of the voice, the guards parted to make way for the owner the voice. The speaker was none other than that little girl, Coco.

"Yes..." he said, his voice raspy as he quirked an eyebrow in interest. "You're... Coco, yes? Byro's assistant?" When she nodded in response, he grunted.

In their last meeting with one another when he and Byro had been discussing the future applications of the Dragon Knight_,_ the cutesy girl that was his assistant had come up in conversation. When he had instructed the hobbled scientist to relieve the messenger girl of her duties, deeming her to be far too irresponsible to have such a lofty position within the castle's walls, the little man had surprisingly come to her defense, asking for lenience to be afforded to her.

_"She may have her faults," _Byro had explained,_ "but she has her useful points."_

Faust, surprised at Byro not only standing up for her, but at his defying him in the process, had allowed Byro to keep her on as his assistant. He was actually somewhat impressed with the normally deferential man, and now... he was curious to see just what it was Byro had seen in the girl.

"So..." he began. "Who was it that brought about Byro's... untimely demise? Do you have any knowledge of this, Coco?"

Coco started trembling just from recalling the experience. 'I'm sorry,' she mentally apologized to the blond stranger. 'But... even though you let me go... you killed Chief Byro...'

Her eyes hardened as tears leaked from their corners. "Ye-Yes, your Majesty!" she said firmly. "I saw who did it! It was that blond guy! That mage we brought from that new world!"

Some of the more undisciplined guards began whispering excitedly at that proclamation.

"Really? That prisoner?"

"I thought he was injured!"

"Man, he must really be strong, to have escaped and killed Byro-sama..."

And that was just what Faust could make out. Their hushed whispers had soon morphed into full-blown chattering as they began talking over one another in order to continue their incessant gossip. Irritated at their insolence, he invoked the authority he had garnered as King of Edolas, roaring, "SILENCE!"

As demanded by the King, silence reigned, with not a single individual daring to make a peep or utterance before the Monarch spoke once more.

Nodding toward the Assistant Chief of Staff, he thanked her, before turning toward the leader of the guards. "And? Is there anything else?" he prompted.

"Yes, your Majesty. It's regarding the First and Second Magic War Division Commanders of the Edolas Royal Army: Pantherlily and Erza have departed in order to deal with the escaped prisoner," he responded instantly.

"Good," Faust replied, smiling grimly. "Then perhaps I'll–"

"E... EVERYONE!" a panicked voice shouted, cutting him off abruptly. The owner of the voice was a Royal Army guard from the Third Magical Warfare Corps, the subdivision directly under the command of Hughes; he had just rushed into the throne room. "Commanders Hughes and Sugarboy have been found with grave injuries!"

"Hmm... it must be that escaped mage again..." the king muttered under his breath. 'If he's this strong, then his magic power will truly be what is needed to propel us to a new age, one where we supplant the Exceeds with our own limitless power...'

"THAT'S NOT ALL!" a guard from the Second Division of Magical Warfare said, encouraged by his comrade's shouting at the top of his lungs, so much so that he did so himself. "He... he's proven himself to be stronger than even Commanders Pantherlily and Erza of the First and Second Division! They've reported that he's actually managed to escape them! They're giving chase to him, but..."

Faust tuned him out. His four captains... _defeated?_ If even they could not stop this mage, what other options did they have? What could he possibly do to ensure the Kingdom's future prosperity?

_"I implore you, my King... don't use Dorma Anim before it is ready. While it is currently functional, it will deplete the magic power from the planet at a rate that is so high, it cannot be measured. If you use it now, it will surely consume all the magic from Edolas. We must gather magical power to fuel it in order to spare this Kingdom the brunt of its wrath..."_

He had heeded Byro's words before, but now... in the face of losing what was the closest thing they had to limitless magical production in that foreign mage they had captured... there was no other recourse.

"Instruct the Legion Corps to sortie," Faust ordered firmly, carelessly cutting off the conversation being held without his input. "They are currently patrolling the skies, yes?" When lead guard affiliated with that regiment nodded, he continued, "Tell them of the situation, but they are not to attack under any circumstances. This alien mage is beyond them. I merely want him corralled."

"Anything else, your Majesty?" the guard asked.

"...Prepare the Dorma Anim," he said, his calm voice belying the festering anger he was feeling at how the situation had devolved so rapidly into all this... _mayhem_.

"Y... your Majesty! That's expressly forbidden!" that same guard of the Royal Kingdom's First Magical Warfare Corps, a subordinate of Pantherlily's, said imploringly. "Article Twenty-Three of the Imperial Charter clearly states that–"

"Did I ask for your_ opinion?"_ the King growled angrily.

"N... n-n-no, but... but I..."

Faust had no more patience for this fool's stuttering. He would suffer no more of it.

"PREPARE IT!" he bellowed, his normally beady eyes bulging in his anger.

Activating _Dorma Anim_ may have been premature, but with illimitable magic within his grasp, deploying the magic-intensive mechanical dragon was a no-brainer. The hubris of that accursed foreign mage... he would soon realize just why it was that the Kingdom of Edolas was a force to be reckoned with. He would soon feel... the wrath of Edolas.

* * *

**Alright, let me know what you think of this chapter, guys. It's still early, but the story's starting to shape up nicely from my point of view. **

**As far as it's concerned, the Edolas Saga continues. Naruto's been sidetracked by the antics of Fairy Tail Edolas, while his newfound enemies are tirelessly pursuing him and preparing for their eventual conflict. Next chapter, it's Naruto vs. the world!**

**Hope you all enjoyed.**

**CS.**


	4. Edolas World War: Outbreak

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Edolas World War – Outbreak**

* * *

Naruto awoke to find himself amidst a group of slumbering Fairies.

After eating his fill and indulging in the various delicacies of Edolas (Lucy, and Lisanna to a lesser extent, insisted that he in fact _gorged_ on the food — his response to that was that they'd never seen a _real_ man eat, an answer that got a laugh out of Lucy and caused Lisanna to direct a strange look of longing at her oddly dressed brother), as well as engaging some interesting conversation with his new acquaintances, he had inexplicably fallen asleep. Had he not known that these people were genuine, he'd have thought they'd drugged him, but that assumption disregarded the fact that his body would have purged the effects of any invading poison/intoxicants in mere moments.

As for the actual reason he had just dozed off? He was just that tired.

Tired enough to fall asleep on the floor, as it turned out. He wasn't the only one who did so, though, hence the mass of unconscious bodies lying all around him. The thought did cross his mind that those who joined him on the floor were in fact imitating him, because who would deliberately sleep on the cold hard ground, otherwise? He quickly dismissed the thought, though, when he realized that these very same people were easily among the stranger groups of people that he had ever had the pleasure of meeting, and that was saying something.

When he felt a small weight shuffling atop him, he looked down, and was surprised to have his line of sight blocked by the crown of the head of one Lisanna Strauss. The girl was actually sleeping, snuggling her head into his chest as she laid there, half-draped onto him. They had only met yesterday, hadn't they? Why such... closeness?

As far as he was concerned, this was Exhibit A as to why he thought them all to be so damn weird. It did occur to him that perhaps she did it to avoid lying down on the floor, but that was just something he told himself to try and explain what this was. If she actually had an aversion to sleeping on the floor, she would have moved to one of the couches in the guild hall, since not all of them were occupied.

Hearing the discordant snores of an individual sleeping incredibly close by, he sighed, thinking it was another girl — if so, she sounded kinda mannish — before having the hell scared out of him when he saw it was the overly-bundled dark-haired boy, Gray, who was fond of wearing multiple layers of clothing. He was lying peculiarly on his belly, drool pooling on the floor next to his slack-jawed mouth, and he was blindfolded by a thin, red cloth.

His left arm was outstretched in Naruto's direction as if he was reaching for something, but the rest of his limbs were tied together as if he had been hog-tied before he had managed to free up an arm or something. He was sweating like crazy, too; for some reason, the guy refused to remove at least some of the clothes he was wearing that served to make him incredibly warm at all times. Naruto shuddered at the unappealing display, turning his head on his pillow in order to face his other side, determined to direct his gaze away from the disturbing sight. The one he was greeted with upon his head's reorientation was decidedly more pleasant, especially given his inclination towards things of a more... _sensual_ nature.

It was Juvia. As if the fact that it was the girl who enjoyed using him in various provocative ways to rile up 'Mr. Clothes' over there wasn't enough, she was positioned in such a way that put her racy undergarments on display.

She was slumped over in her sleep, her red tie discarded (Gray's blindfold, he realized) as her shirt was partially opened, revealing part of her lacy red bra to go along with her already revealed flat stomach. Her miniskirt was hiked up and her legs were now bereft of her fishnet tights (so _that_ was what she used to tie him up), and her matching panties were on full display.

'What a shameless woman,' he thought, smirking wryly. She was lucky he had, at the very least, _some_ semblance of honour (Jiraiya's efforts notwithstanding), otherwise he would have succumbed to the carnal desires she had awoken in him in the display.

'I don't remember the ground ever being this comfortable, though,' he thought curiously as he rolled his head on a pillow, or what he had _assumed_ to be a pillow. He didn't think someone would have provided as much, so it was a nice gesture, as far as he was concerned. Seemed like something that girl Mirajane would do, especially after seeing her sister contently sleeping in his arms. She had been shooting him these strange looks the entire time he was chatting up her sister. Such a thing didn't really escape his notice, but the strange thing about it was it seemed like she couldn't care less that he knew of her odd behaviour, happily waving at him when she noticed the perplexed look he sent her in return.

As comfortable as it was, though, the pillow felt very warm. Wanting to flip it onto the cooler, more pleasant side, he eased himself up onto his elbows slowly so that he didn't wake Lisanna, half turned so that he could keep his distance from Gray, and blindly reached down to quickly grasp the pillow so that he could flip it over without nudging Juvia. He froze, though, when he heard a soft, feminine moan sound out after he squeezed his 'pillow'.

...Yeah, there was no pillow.

It turned out that he had been using the magnificent mounds that were Lucy Ashley's breasts as a head cushion. While he was impressed at just how soft they were, he couldn't believe how he had mistaken them for a pillow. And their shape... man, she had every right to be proud of them.

'Why was I even sleeping on her chest anyway?' he asked himself internally, removing his hand from the supple, squeezable globes with a level of reluctance that surprised him. He soon recalled that she had actually put him in a headlock to punish him for doing something to anger her (whatever the hell that was; it was obvious that she was the quick-trigger type, so it was hard to keep track of just how many things it was that annoyed or angered her) and it appeared that the two had basically fallen asleep that way. It was an odd way to punish him to begin with, because her chest was so large and soft that all she managed to do was hold his head against them, her scolding choke-out not affecting him in the least; thus, he felt no inclination to actually extricate himself from her grasp, given that he found the hold to actually be more rewarding than punishing.

Noticing the faint light from the moon filtering in through the circular windows on the upper walls of the building, Naruto realized that while it was still dark out, the time was ideal for him to finally make his leave.

As he attempted to remove himself from the slumbering embraces of both Lucy and Lisanna, he had to stop himself when he realized that with the way they were positioned (with the latter on top of him and him partially on top of the former), such a thing would be very difficult to pull off without waking one or both of them. The last thing he wanted was for any of them to be cognizant of his departure until he had actually _made_ it, so he quickly scanned the room for a guinea pig that would aid in his escape.

Spotting Levy, the lithe blue-haired mechanic that was always at odds with Lucy (and as it turned out, _him_ by association, given that he was somewhat chummy with his fellow blonde), he snickered mischievously as he prepared to introduce the two young women to a whole new level of intimacy. Forgoing a seal-less body-replacement, given that he wanted to ensure a perfect replacement, he reached out for her, performing the technique with only one hand seal. Clasping his hands together to form the snake hand seal, his chakra reached out and successfully enveloped her small frame, swiftly pulling her into his just-vacated position between Lucy and Lisanna.

'Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique): success,' he thought roguishly, smirking at how Lucy had her rival snuggled up into her ample bosom. While he would have liked to see the fireworks upon their awakening, him sticking around for such a thing would have defeated the entire purpose of him leaving furtively in the first place. These members of Fairy Tail were weird, but they were also good people. 'Some more than others,' he thought, glancing at Lisanna as he tried to hold in his snickers, smiling widely at how she now had her head resting upon Levy's backside.

He was never good at goodbyes; they were always an awkward affair. Better to leave them with positive memories, he thought as he made his way out of the guild hall, since he'd never see them again once he got back home. Sneaking out was an ignoble thing to do, and not something he was particularly proud of, but he wouldn't be deterred. The last thing he needed was them hindering him when he was on the verge of a breakthrough in his quest to escape Edolas.

When he crossed the threshold of the guild hall's front door as he stepped outside, he briefly paused to admire the lush, exotic scenery, deeply inhaling whatever aromas his nose could grasp as he enjoyed the most refreshing breeze he had felt in quite some time.

"Hey!"

Opening his eyes in slight annoyance as he was interrupted from savouring a most invigorating zephyr, he stared ahead as the frame of a relatively tall young woman came into view. She had lustrous, deep blue hair that stretched down to her waist, but of course her more notable physical assets were her large brown eyes and even larger breasts. She was garbed in a very revealing top that was cerulean in color and had a decorative bow that showed off her impressive cleavage and flaring hips, and black capri pants that were of a tight fit.

When she came to a stop in front of him, she placed her hands on her knees and bent slightly at the waist as she caught her breath, her heaving shoulders doing a good job of showing her exhaustion from all the running she had been doing. She looked to be distressed, although in spite of the situation, a part of him couldn't help but note that her current stance provided quite the appealing view of her sizeable cleavage. Her current posture also allowed for him to notice that she had a piece of parchment clutched tightly in her hand.

"_Haah_... _haah_... warn... _haah_... the guild... _h__urry!" _she gasped.

He never said anything in response, though, remaining silent as he watched her curiously, her heaving shoulders slowing as he caught sight of something interesting printed upon the paper.

'Hm? What's this?' he wondered, snatching it out of her loose grasp ("I–hey!" was her protest, before she just let it pass when she realized that he paid her no mind whatsoever), scrutinizing what was a clear picture of _himself_ with the words '**WANTED — ALIVE**' boldly typed below it. "Wanted...?"

"Yeah, it–" the girl said, before abruptly perking up when she recognized him. "It's you! The guy on the poster!" Her tone was filled with the surprise and awe one would have if they met a celebrity in person for the first time.

"...Yeah, what the hell is _this?"_ Naruto asked annoyedly, a peeved look on his face.

"Um, what do you think? It's a wanted poster. _Your_ wanted poster."

"Yeah, I got that. What I'm talking about is this shitty picture. What the hell kinda picture is this?" he asked angrily, upset as if it was the busty blue-haired girl that was responsible for the image.

It was a relatively accurate, if propagandized, picture of him with the left half of his face shrouded in such a way that it encouraged his newfound persona of a malefactor. His orbs shone with a malice he didn't think himself capable of, a menacing scowl on his face as the depiction was topped off with blood splattered on the visible part of his face.

He looked like a villain, to put it simply.

What he really wanted to know, though, was when and where the photo was taken. He didn't fight until he had vacated the Royal City, and even then, it was hardly the sordid affair the picture would incline one to believe.

Then it dawned on him. It must have been his clone. He _had_ created it the night before, but even with that being very possible, he knew that the public face the Royal Army had so kindly crafted for him was quite the exaggeration.

"Heh... you think that's bad? Looks better than mine."

"Oh? And who the hell are _you_? No offence, but you hardly look like the type to get a wanted poster."

"My _name_ is Wendy," the girl said with a strained smile as she stood to her full height, which was a mere few inches lower than his. She was still breathing deeply, and although it was much less pronounced than it had been before, her breathing still did wonderful things to her breasts, as far as their movement was concerned. That, coupled with the beads of sweat that trickled into her cleavage made for a sight even he would struggle to refrain from indulging in.

"And as to your comment," she said smugly, "here's all you need to see."

He reached out to take what it was she offered him, which was a leaflet of papers identical to the one he already had of himself.

Fairy Tail Wanted Posters.

Sure enough, the first one he saw was of his new acquaintance, garbed in her usual attire as she stood with a couple of daggers in hand. It read, '**WANTED — DEAD OR ALIVE**', denoting that they didn't value her as much as they did him; he also had a higher bounty than her, but... who was counting? As for what the poster itself emphasized...

"Is... is this real?" he asked incredulously.

"...Yeah..."

"They... they played up your... uh..."

She blushed at what he was referring to (her chest), glad he didn't explicitly say it. "...Y-Yeah."

Naruto didn't know what to say about that (well, he could have said _something_, but he just knew it'd be inappropriate — he had plenty of experience in similar situations to know that he'd say something tactless), so instead tried to change the subject, however awkwardly. "So, you said your name was... Wendy, right?"

"Mmhmm. And what's yours?" she asked, glad he didn't stay on the topic of her boobs being immortalized in such a fashion.

"Naruto," he said, speaking calmly with a genial smile on his face as he returned her little collection of posters. He smirked at seeing her flush at the sound of his voice, but did not comment on her reaction.

"Are those knives?" he suddenly asked, eyeing the magic daggers she had on her person. At the very least, it seemed that part of her wanted poster was accurate.

"Ye-yeah," she said.

"...Can I have them?"

"Really? You want my daggers?" he heard her ask in surprise, and when he nodded in affirmation of the request, her mouth moved several times as she struggled for words. Finally, she asked, "Why?", but he got the feeling that she wanted to say more and merely settled for the one word inquiry.

"They remind me of a weapon I like to use. Also, if you want me to take care of this guy," he said, referring to the incoming enemy that had been tirelessly pursuing her, "it'll be appreciated if you do end up giving them to me. I think I'll make good use of them."

Shrugging at what he said, she just handed the two blades over to him and allowed for his perusal of them. "If you can guarantee that you'll at least waylay him, they're yours."

"Nice. Okay, go and warn the guild so you can all escape while I... 'waylay' him. Leave it to me," he said assuredly, holstering the blades after he got a bit of a feel for them.

"Oh?" she said, her voice lowering an octave as she raised an eyebrow at him, reacting to the almost casual way he had said that he'd take care of things. "You know, I really like confident guys." She said this almost conversationally, purring seductively at him as she did so.

"Uh... yeah, okay," he said, a bit nonplussed at how pert she was. It wasn't that long ago where the prospect of him meeting a forward woman was foreign, and now in addition to Juvia, there was Wendy. He would have thought it was a blue-haired thing if Levy wasn't so ice-cold to him, but that could easily be attributed to his friendship with Lucy. The relatively recent experience he gained from his brief interactions with Juvia allowed for him to nip the strange turn in the conversation in the bud, though, by remarking, "That's nice, but now's not the time for that. Thanks for the blades, but I've got to get going. See ya."

He didn't bother looking back, vanishing in a burst of high-speed movement to put some distance between him and the guild before Wendy could utter a final remark.

* * *

[|||]

"This is incredibly distressing news," an Exceed that was advanced in age said wearily, rubbing at his distinctly-shaped eyes as he digested the grave news delivered to him and the higher ups of the Kingdom of Extalia. His wispy beard concealed the heavy frown on his face, but his tone did more than enough to convey his displeasure at what he had heard.

He was not the only one frowning at what it was that had been said. He, along with his three fellow elders, flanked a large throne where a female Exceed dressed in full regalia along with a large flowing dress with decorative ruffles sat.

She was Queen Shagotte.

An exemplary beauty of her race, the Exceed Queen had gray eyes and white fur, her face garnished with diamond-like piercings. Shifting in her seat once more, she absently noted the love-hate relationship she had with her current attire. While she greatly disliked it due to it being incredibly showy (not to mention the effort she had to put in day after day donning it and wearing it for hours on end), she couldn't help but be appreciative of it whenever she found herself seated on the stunningly designed, yet incredibly uncomfortable, throne; the multi-layered dress provided sufficient cushioning whenever she sat upon the hard ceremonial chair.

Kneeling deferentially before her were the two highest ranked Exceed outside of herself and her small council of elders: Nadi and Nichiya. The former had black fur and was taller than the average Exceed, although that was solely due to his elongated neck and rectangular head. The Minister of State of the Kingdom of Extalia had his usual jovial smile plastered on his face, and his odd habit of waving his hand back and forth seemed to be as strong as ever.

The latter had a severe countenance that was directly incongruous to that of his comrade, although his head was also disproportionate to his body. He had yellow fur and wore a red hat with a cat symbol on it; he also had a red apron depicting the similarly designed insignia of Extalia, which denoted his rise to the captaincy of Extalia's Imperial Guard in recent years, a promotion that was aided by the relinquishing of that very position by a certain panther-like Exceed.

They had just reported the humans' rapid mobilization and deployment of their expansive army, for reasons they were not privy to. Naturally, the worst-case scenario was what they anticipated, and considering the Queen's vision, it was certainly in play.

It would seem that they were on the verge of war.

"If this action by the humans is not a herald of our long anticipated conflict, of our long feared _demise_–"

"No," Shagotte said. "You are mistaken, Martam."

"...My Queen?"

She directed a look at each of her four advisors, one they immediately recognized to be her saying, 'I saw this in my vision.' As a result, they subsequently remained silent on the matter.

"Their target is not us, but a human from Earthland. Doubtless they seek him for his magic power..." she said.

"But then... why would they send out their army in droves like this?" Nadi asked obliviously. "Aren't the humans collecting magic on our behalf?"

After the five of them exchanged discreet looks between themselves, Shagotte said, "Nadi, Nichiya, thank you for your report. ...Please, leave us."

Nadi, despite his bafflement at the request, nodded obediently and made to follow the command to turn and exit stage left, but stalled when the cleft-chinned Exceed next to him did not stand from his kneeling position. In fact, he only increased his posture of subservience, bowing his head so far down that his hat had fallen from it perch within his orange tufts of hair, the tips of his ears almost touching the floor.

"My Queen! Please, allow me the honour of taking my men~ to capture this SMELLY HUMAN–!" Nichiya began, having raised his voice as he raised his head, only to cut himself off as he was met with the disapproving frown of the queen. Not wanting to ever see such a look directed toward him, he quickly added on to his statement, saying, "And, um, _escort_ this h-human here to Extalia!"

"And _why_ would we allow you to do such a thing?" Mejeer asked, curious to know the eccentric captain's reasoning.

"Those humans are foolish, and inferior to us in every way! They have already done their rudimentary task, allow us to take it from here! Give the order, my Queen, and they will obey us! If not, you can cow them with your godly power once more!"

Shagotte wanted to refuse him. This quarrel did not concern them; her vision involved nothing of this nature. She opened her mouth to verbalize her thoughts on the matter before she was preempted by Martam whispering in her ear. When she glanced at him, he nodded resolutely. Heaving a sigh of reluctance, she acceded to the captain's request, saying, "Very well. Take your men, but be quick about it."

"Yes, your Majesty!"

When Nichiya and Nadi finally left the throne room, she directed a saddened look to Martam. She never would have thought she'd end up risking the lives of her subordinates, all in order to keep up their little ruse. Then again, at the urging of her advisors, she had abandoned one of their own...

_"...Shagotte."_

_"Hunh...? Wha–?! _Lily?!"

_"...Yes. I hope you don't mind me calling you by your name, since you are no longer my _queen_," he said. The bitterness in his voice made her cringe. He didn't seem to notice, though, or if he did, he didn't care._

_Uncaring of the fact that he had infiltrated her royal chamber, as well as having interrupted her sleep, he proceeded to hastily push a piece of paper into her hands. _

_"Wha... what is this?" she asked drowsily._

_"Information," he said. "You're going to need it if you want to ensure Extalia's survival."_

_"Why? Why do this, after we betrayed you? Why come to me? What can I possibly do with all of this?"_

_"Because the human king, Faust, would see our race destroyed," he said. Pointing at the document clutched within her hands, he continued, "Those are estimates for their troop numbers; they're building up their military to impose war upon you and yours."_

_"..."_

_"As for my reasoning behind all this... . Well, to be frank, I... hated Extalia. I still do. I despise it, _loathe_ it, for turning its back on me. I served you faithfully, and you tossed me aside just to maintain your illusion of divinity."_

_"Li-Lily..."_

_"But I've realized that no matter how much I dislike it, it is still the place of my birth. It is still my homeland. My loyalty to Faust was purely because he opposed you, and so I threw myself in with him and his army. He had been trying to keep this from me, and for good reason; in the end, I couldn't turn my back on you, not after learning of all this."_

_"Th... thank you, but–"_

_"As for why I come to you with this... as surprising as it may sound, you're the only one I can trust in this regard. That day you banished me, I saw the regret on your face. I believe you to be more concerned with your people's fate than your stuffy old advisors. All they care about is keeping up their clever little charade, crafting your splendid little narrative of godliness. As for what it is you should do with the information... well, I'm sure you can figure _that_ out..."_

And she had. Whenever Pantherlily provided her with intel (always to her directly, and always in the dead of night), she passed it off as a pseudo-vision whenever she saw fit to inform her inner council of what it was she had learned.

When the four elders finally shuffled to stand before her, she sighed, and was about to dismiss them, before–

_Carnage. Countless bodies strewn all over, far too many to count. The earth, rent apart, appeared on the verge of collapsing in on itself. The sky, a foreboding saffron in color, appeared to be turbulent in its consistency. And standing tall in the middle of all this was a lone shadow, a solitary silhouette of a man; a human. The one responsible for their predicament._

Gasping as her mind released her from its merciless grasp, she took deep breaths to steady her heartbeat, digesting what it was her premonitory ability had just shown her.

"It's changed," she whispered gravely, rubbing her temple as she tried to make sense of what she had witnessed in her mind's eye. "The vision's changed... Nichiya! Send word to him, hurry! He mustn't pursue that human from Earthland! He's too powerful!"

"Your Majesty, they cannot know of the true nature of your ability! It's too dangerous!" Martam said.

Shagotte frowned heavily, utterly impuissant and unable to do anything to effect change, especially with her body as frail as it was. The burdens of leadership had taken their toll on her: the sending of some one hundred eggs to Earthland (including her own), the sacrificing of Pantherlily's honour for the sake of their illusory superiority, and now... _this_. Powerless to do nothing more than hope for the best, she clenched her eyes shut in her frustration, slumping back into the throne she was seated on as the weight of it all bore down on her shoulders.

'Pantherlily... once again, I find myself relying on you...' she thought regretfully, frustrated at her helplessness at the whole thing.

'...Please, save us.'

* * *

[|||]

(Meanwhile — A Short Ways from Fairy Tail)

"That idiot! Just 'cause he beat Knightwalker, he thinks he's hot shit! C'mon Wendy, show us where he went already!"

The blue-haired young woman sighed. "Calm down, Lucy. As you can see, I'm already going out of my way to do just that." When the blonde harrumphed, Wendy ignored her, asking Lisanna, "Who the hell is this guy, really? Do you honestly expect me to believe that he _beat_ Knightwalker? Sure, he seemed confident, which I kinda like, but–"

"He did. I know what I saw," Lucy said with a confidence that surprised Wendy. "Sent the bitch flying. I only wish _I_ coulda done that to her."

"...Lisanna? Do you believe her?"

"I... I do," the girl said simply, electing not to say anything more on the subject. Her bright blue eyes peered through the early morning fog, squinting as she tried to see what was ahead despite the fact that the sun had yet to rise, which made visibility incredibly poor.

'Interesting. Naruto... he certainly seems capable, but for him to so easily win over Lucy and Lisanna... he's definitely someone to watch out for,' Wendy thought. Speaking of winning them over...

"You know, I was wondering just what it is about this guy that's got you so worried for him after just a day of knowing him."

Lucy scoffed. "What is this, twenty questions? Why are you so interested?"

Wendy smiled. "I'm just trying to figure out how this guy has got you both falling for him." When the two girls both flushed and looked away (Lucy sternly ahead, and Lisanna shyly at the ground), her smile widened. Looked like she hit the nail on the head.

"You know, I can't say I blame you guys," Wendy said, a bit wistfully. "I feel like I haven't met someone like him in _forever._ In fact, I think I'm kinda jealous."

"Oh yeah?" Lucy said, her voice taking on a taunting lilt. Her bravado seemed to have been renewed at the blue-haired girl's admitting of her attraction to Naruto. As strange as it was, on some level, the busty blonde felt vindicated at the admission. Sure, she was all but certain that she herself was harboring _some_ kind of feelings for her fellow blond (not that she'd ever admit something like that), but hearing others profess as much only drove home the fact that he was certainly a prize worth fighting for.

"Yup," Wendy said, popping the 'p'. The two girls shared a grin at that. Challenge accepted.

In the Fairy Tail guild, Levy wasn't the only person who found herself at odds with Lucy, which wasn't too surprising given the blonde's penchant for ruffling the feathers of whoever, whenever; Wendy and Juvia were no exception, although they were similar in that, in most cases, they really couldn't be bothered to deal with her antics. Of course, Levy would tend to take up arms on their behalf, although such a thing was almost always coincidental.

It was just how things were; Lucy was very outgoing and fun-loving, although her brand of fun tended to get under people's skin, and Levy, while just as fiery, tended to keep to herself more. Her hobby/borderline profession of machinist inclined her toward such behaviour. It was the reason why she never got into much, if any, quarrels with her fellow blue-haired guild mates.

"As nice as it is to see you two getting along," Lisanna interrupted snidely, her surprise at their so easily proclaiming their interest in the spiky-haired blond quickly turning into annoyance, "we have to actually _find_ him, you know. For all _we_ know, he could be fighting the forces of the Royal Army on his own."

"You're right," Lucy said, becoming serious as she pulled out her inactive magic whip. The action of arming herself prompted Wendy and Lisanna to do the same, with the latter equipping a long magic staff while the former pulled out a pair of obsidian tonfas; since Naruto had borrowed her preferred weapons in her magic daggers, she had decided to make use of her lesser-used weapon set.

Due to their suspecting the approach of an enemy from just about anywhere (the fog was very bothersome in that regard), their progress in tracking just where the blond had gone went slowly, although it ultimately didn't derail them too much since they eventually managed to find him after a short while, aided by the loud commotion being caused by what they believed to be the pained cries of a Legion.

"Whoa, who knew a Legion could make a sound like _that?"_ Lisanna remarked. 'Did Naruto do that?'

"Who cares, we've finally found him," Wendy said, relieved. A small part of her was actually worried for the blond, thinking he might have been in over his head when he left on his own like that. "See, there he is! Can't believe you dragged me through all this, though..."

"Oh, be quiet. You obviously wanted to see him again, otherwise you woulda complained a whole lot more," Lucy said with a smirk.

"Come on, you two! Can't you knock it off? We need to keep quiet; we didn't see any enemies so far, have we? Maybe there's a reason for that! Also, wouldn't it be nice if we kept things _going_ this way?"

Lisanna's snarky scolding went largely unheard, though, as Lucy dashed toward the young man they had spent quite some time trying to track down. He seemed unaware of her approach, and Lisanna had to bite back a sigh. It wouldn't be pretty, but he _did_ deserve whatever 'special treatment' the eccentric blonde had planned for him given his sneaking off.

'You'd better have a good explanation for all this, Naruto...'

* * *

[|||]

Naruto was disappointed to learn that he had less options available to him than he would have originally thought as far as his venture to return home was concerned.

He had felt pretty silly when he realized that he fixated upon returning home by way of the method he had been brought to Edolas, when he had a sort of 'warp-zone'-like technique available to him via his Toad summons all along. The fact that the Summoning Technique (and, as a result, the Reverse Summoning Technique) had eventually proved to be a dead end did little to console him for his brain fart, though, instead putting more pressure on him to get back to the Elemental Nations through a more unconventional method (read: one not involving the use of chakra).

Despite its relatively straightforward functionality, the summoning technique's success was primarily contingent upon the second part of the technique. Sure, there was the whole, 'bite thumb, do hand-seals, dredge up chakra, and poof' to it, but if all that failed to bring forth one of the animals he'd forged a bond with, then it was all for naught.

That, unfortunately, was the case here for Naruto.

After leaving Fairy Tail, and after his encounter with Wendy, he had been expecting to get into some sort of fight, seeing as how there was a Legion pursuing his newest acquaintance, but that was not the case. It turned out that the soldier commandeering the creature was actually a scout of some sort, because as soon as the man had caught sight of him, he directed it to double back, seeking to fly them back so that they could hook up with their allies.

...Naruto was surprised at how powerful his gravity manipulation really was. With barely a flicker of his chakra and a flexing of his fingers, the aerially fleeing creature was brought down to earth, violently.

'What a strange animal,' he thought, examining its appearance. The way it looked was so odd, it wouldn't have made much more sense even if it was a summon, which admittedly took on relatively unique appearances. It had smooth, dark fur and with large, round glowing eyes, its head strangely shaped and angular with smooth, black horns protruding from it; it also had a large, gaping maw filled with sharp teeth along with a tuft of dark hair on its chin resembling a beard, as well as three slitted nostrils on each side of its face. The black paws it had were disproportionate in size in comparison with its large body, with sharp talons on each claw, and it had a long, thin tail which ended in a strange shape resembling a broken eggshell.

When he approached the downed animal in the aftermath of his violent insistence for it to stay, he almost winced at the effect his forced gravitational pull had on its most prominent feature, its wings. The impact had crippled it severely, with the appendages it used to achieve flight having taken the brunt of the damage; it wasn't going to take to the skies anytime soon, if ever again.

Naruto almost shrugged at the thought, not caring all too much if that indeed was the case. It was a small price to pay to keep his enemies unaware of the position of both himself and his unwitting allies in Fairy Tail. Now, as for the deceased individual who was piloting the animal, well... the kind of rest he would be getting was of the more permanent variety, seeing as how his neck had been snapped, among other things.

It was a bit of a grisly sight, not one Naruto was all that pleased to see, but it wasn't something that affected him, to be honest. Sure, given his idealistic nature, the death of the no-name man, despite their being enemies, brought a frown to his face. At the same time, though, he knew how things worked, how fragile the human body was — and this guy wasn't even the kind of human he was _familiar_ with.

Before all of this, he couldn't have fathomed such a thing as people subsisting without chakra in some way, shape, or form. He didn't know how to explain its presence, it was just... _there._ It was... essential. His whole life, all he had known was that if someone was deprived of it, they'd either be dead, or heading towards it.

It would have made sense to him if magic had in essence filled in where chakra couldn't as far as this new world was concerned (it would have been a way to relate the foreign energy to chakra, at least), but it tuned out that nobody had magic inside their bodies like his people had chakra inherently within themselves. While he didn't think a human with the bare necessities of chakra would survive such a violent impact, he knew for a fact that an individual with chakra, no matter how minuscule, wouldn't die so... horribly.

Seriously. It was gruesome.

Conjuring up a clone to perform the thankless task of getting rid of the body, Naruto set about making his preparations for his upcoming fight against the kingdom that, without any provocation, put him in this situation. He made sure to be quick about it all, having realized that this lone, now deceased soldier and his permanently-grounded mount must have been gone for far longer than their allies would have accounted for, and if he wanted to get the drop on them and wreak some serious havoc, he'd need to get going.

"RAAAAGH! Screwdrive Elbow Crush!"

'What the hell?' Naruto thought, his musings interrupted by the outburst as he made a sort of half-turn in time to catch sight of a yellow and black blur launching itself at him before he felt the soft curves of a certain blonde pressing against his back.

Oh, and she also happened to have her elbow against his temple.

It didn't hurt much, of course — and knowing who was administering the technique (if it could be called as such), Naruto knew it was meant to be painful — but it was still kind of annoying, so he disentangled the grip the girl had on his upper body/neck and promptly flipped her to the ground.

"Oof!" his assailant exclaimed, the wind knocked out of her at the unexpected reversal.

"Heh," Naruto chuckled, quickly enforcing his advantage over his fiery female acquaintance as he secured both of her hands above her head with his left hand, all the while kneeling over her as he basically straddled her without actually sitting on her. "How are you? Comfy?"

"Ngh... haargh... get _off_ me!" Lucy growled breathlessly, surprised and more than a little upset that he had so easily turned her little torture technique against her. Her reaction made it all but certain to Naruto that nobody had ever reacted to her assaults the way he just had.

"I dunno... I kinda like having you under me like this," Naruto said, taking great joy in her frustration at how easily he had subdued her, her harsh pants that resulted from her having the wind knocked out of her drawing attention to her chest, which was heaving appreciably.

His innuendo-laced tone, combined with where she noticed his eyes to be wandering, caused the buxom blonde to blush furiously, her struggling to escape his unrelenting grip increasing significantly despite her feeling a faint arousal at the attention he was giving her. "Perv," she mumbled, her face maintaining a constant flush as her mind started to wander now that she was at this 'perv's' mercy.

Unfortunately for her, she was only providing more spank bank material for the now-dubbed pervert, as her efforts to escape his hold only added more variations to the way her breasts moved, swaying and undulating in the way only boobs the size of hers were capable of.

A small part of him was sorely tempted to make a move given the good vibes he was feeling from his fellow blonde, but the rational part of his mind reminded him that not only was such a move too forward (the uncertainty of what her reaction to such an advance would be helped in keeping that lustful action at bay), but that now was obviously not the time for it.

"Whoa!"

Their current questionable positioning, of course, wouldn't stop others from assuming something had occurred, if that startled shout was any indication.

The two blonds, who had been nose-to-nose and chest-to-chest, turned at once in the direction of the voice together, slowly.

They were met with the amused gaze of Wendy and the mortified one of Lisanna.

"I-It's not what it looks like!" Lucy said frantically, desperate to dispel the illusion the situation had cast on her character.

"Oh, I think its _exactly_ what it looks like," Wendy said seductively, conveying just what she thought had happened in her tone of voice alone. "So you're a sub in the sack? Good to know, _Lu-cy_."

Sputtering at that remark, the blonde turned to the whisker-marked young man, hoping that he would back her up in front of her friend despite her attacking him; in all the commotion, he had gotten off of her and relinquished his restricting hold on her, smirking as he recognized the look she shot him. His response, motivated by his desire to further her embarrassment after she tried to punish him in such an emasculating fashion (not to mention influenced by what he secretly believed to be the truth), was to shrug as if to say, 'She's got a point.'

The blonde's squawk of indignation was only eclipsed in volume by the blue-haired girl's laughter at her expense.

Standing to his feet, Naruto noticed that the third Fairy Tail member that had followed him was silent, and when he met her questioning blue orbs with his unconcerned ones, she seemed to visibly relax, seemingly understanding his wordless assurance that nothing x-rated had gone on.

Lucy, seizing the opportunity to change the subject, launched to her feet in order to give Naruto a piece of her mind. "Oi, what's the big idea, running off like that? What makes you think you can just up and leave after we fed you and everything?" While she would have liked to give him more of a tongue-lashing, she didn't want to come off as clingy, which she was certain such an action would do.

'She sounds like Ayame-chan when she hounded me for not paying off my ramen tab,' Naruto thought with a smile. "Are you saying I have to stay with you just because you gave me a meal?"

"No," Lisanna said, "but why leave without saying anything? Aren't we friends now?"

Naruto sighed. "It's not as simple as that, you know. I'm not planning on staying here, there was never any plan for me _to_ stay here, and nothing will keep me here. If you all want me to stay then that means _you_ want to stay, which means that when I leave, we probably won't see each other anymore."

"The hell are you talkin' about? You act as if you're from another world or somethin'."

Naruto smirked at Lucy. "Maybe I am," he said mysteriously.

"...You're serious," Wendy said, ignoring the blonde's irate shouts as she stared at the confident young man.

Naruto nodded, his change in demeanour allowing him to stop having to hold Lucy at bay when she realized he had stopped playing around with her. He noticed Lisanna didn't seem all that surprised at the revelation, but seeing as he had resolved to part ways from them, didn't really care to pry.

He also didn't really care to explain his current circumstances, so considered himself fortunate in a sense when their little conversation was interrupted by the ominous sight of the gradually clearing sky getting blotted out by a great number of the kingdom's dark-winged creatures.

"Oh no..." Lisanna mumbled, stunned at the sight.

"Dammit! This is why you've got to come back to the guild!" Lucy said, grabbing a hold of his arm in an effort to make him see reason. "You can't fight all of that!"

Naruto shrugged her off, saying, "Go back without me. Your friend has the right idea."

The two girls turned back to find Wendy already heading back to where their guild was located. "What the hell, Wendy?"

"We-Wendy..."

"Guys, don't bother with him. That look in his eyes... I can tell he's as stubborn as you, Lucy. ...I'm gonna head back. With all these Legion coming, Levy is sure to activate the guild's transportation magic, and if we don't get back before then, we'll have to hide out on our own for who knows how long." When she noticed that what she had said dawned on them, Wendy smiled grimly. "Yeah... I'm not interested in any of that. I need food... and sleep. Later."

She had scarcely said that before the four of them felt the ground rumbling violently, a precursor to a magic technique the three females knew all too well.

"What the hell?! Is that bitch actually leaving without us?" Lucy asked incredulously, furious at her rival's inconsiderate hastiness.

"She is..." Lisanna said needlessly, as the building resembling a gnarly tree started the charge-up process for its mobilization process, preparing to burrow underground in a flare of magical power.

"_That_ right there is why the king wants us dead," Wendy said in explanation to Naruto, who looked surprised at the display of the guild initiating its transportation spell. She didn't bother elaborating, turning to run back before the spell was completed.

Lisanna took that as her cue to pick up where the ample-chested woman left off, touching Naruto's arm gently to get his attention as she said, "He doesn't condone magic use by anyone... at all. It's illegal–"

"–For anyone who isn't him or working _for_ him, right?" Naruto said, interjecting as he met her concerned gaze.

"That's right," she agreed. "It's been like this for years, you know."

"Yeah, that stops today," Naruto said with a growl, a determined look in his eye. The anger in his voice drew their collective attention; even Lucy stopped her fuming at Levy's running away from them to spare him a look. "What a shitty double-standard. Somebody should kick his ass, and that somebody is _me_. In fact, it's in all of our best interests if we destroy him and his army."

It was bad enough that Faust had gone power hungry enough to spread his influence to other worlds (which was admittedly impressive, though no less tyrannical), but the fact that he was oppressing the people who lived here only pissed him off more. That old bastard was going _down_.

"You talk as if we're world beaters," Wendy said with a self-deprecating chuckle, shaking her head at his bold statement as she placed her hands on her hips.

"You may not be," the spiky-haired blond said, "but you'll never get anything done with that kind of attitude. Besides, even if you're not, _I_ am. Now, I'm gonna get going and–"

"Not so fast!" Lucy said shrilly, grabbing him by the front of his shirt in her anger. "There's no way we're going back without you, you know! Fairy Tail doesn't abandon their own!"

"Yeah, but I'm not a member of Fairy Tail, am I?" he asked rhetorically. Lucy answered anyway, trying to shake him silly as she did so.

"Of course you are! You joined yesterday as far as I'm concerned!"

Lisanna could only laugh sheepishly as she saw the two blonds locking horns, literally and figuratively, ending up almost forehead-to-forehead as they got carried away with their little squabble.

"Just shut up and take responsibility!" demanded Lucy. The short-haired girl, for her part, almost blushed at how easily those words could be misconstrued.

"Why do you want me to come back with you so badly? What do you really want, Lucy? Tell me," Naruto demanded.

Lucy merely looked down at the ground at that, looking surprisingly reserved in that moment. "I... I don't want anyone to die. ...I'm not stupid. Right now, we're helpless, and our best bet for survival is to keep doing what we're doing. Running sucks, but it _works_. All the proof we need is in how we're the only active guild around."

"Heh heh. Sounds like you're quite the mother hen, Lucy. Who'da thunk it?" Naruto said, laughing at hearing her say that. The well-proportioned girl didn't know whether to be incensed with him or embarrassed at his words, so settled for giving him a look that could only be described as a combination of one of pleading and one of anger. When he shook his head resolutely, refusing her despite her uncharacteristic plea, she sneered at him, turning away abruptly before following after Wendy, her head held pridefully high.

Naruto smiled grimly at that. He didn't feel all too bothered by it, really, since he knew that she just wanted to keep up appearances as far as her being a tough person. At least she had her priorities straight. Now, if only a certain petite white-haired beauty would follow her lead...

Looking at his side, Naruto sighed. Sure enough, Lisanna stood there unwaveringly, seemingly determined to get him to 'see reason'. It seemed Lisanna was even more stubborn than Lucy, which he found to be a little surprising, if he were honest.

When the two of them started to feel the ground rumble, they glanced in the direction of the guild, which finally completed its transportation technique as it burrowed underground in a flash of light and a surge of magic.

Naruto sighed at the seeming finality of the act, as well as the look of concern on Lisanna's face. He couldn't, in good conscience, leave the girl to fend for herself. Were the circumstances different, he'd have been more concerned with ensuring her well-being, but with him being fully rested and having been well nourished, he was feeling the effects of big-headedness. It was with good reason, though; from what he knew, there wasn't anyone in Faust's army who could stand against him when he had his full complement of chakra available to him.

"Come on, let's go. No point standing around like a couple of idiots," he grumbled, gesturing for her to take his hand.

Lisanna was smart enough to infer what it was he meant for the two of them to do, and, knowing that it was in their best interest to stick together, she closed with him in order to remain close by his side. She made sure not to take hold of his hand, though — an act he assumed to be a small form of protest on her part. Shrugging it off, he took that very hand she refused to grasp and held it out, placing it on the ground as he channeled his chakra to perform a technique available to him through the Animal Path of the Rinnegan.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

In a gigantic puff of smoke, a brown bird at least three times the size of the Legions that were so widely feared in Edolas appeared, wings folded and eyes opened. It looked highly unusual, with a prominent, jagged yellow beak, three legs and three wings; it also had purple ringed eyes with six tomoe spread evenly between the first two 'rings' of each eye.

The Rinnegan summons available to Naruto through the Animal Path were inherently different than the conventional Toad summons he'd been familiar with and made extensive use of over the years. To summon an animal via the dōjutsu, no blood was needed, and no hand-seals were required; just a Rinnegan was necessary, really.

_"Craaawww!"_ the drill-beaked bird screeched, opening its mouth and flexing its limbs. It was only after it performed this attention-drawing action that the short-haired girl in his presence seemed to notice the fact that they were perched atop its head.

"Oh my goodness!" Lisanna exclaimed, sprawled out on all fours, practically on her belly as the bird stood proudly, unfurling its two main wings boldly as she struggled to find purchase on her hands and knees atop the creature; to her credit, she made every effort to maintain her stability atop the creature, as difficult as it was.

"Whoa... Naruto..." the white-haired girl mumbled, stunned at the blond's latest feat as she perused her surroundings. While they were high up off the ground and had yet to even take flight, she could see a great distance in almost every direction, a credit to just how large Naruto's bird was.

Through it all, Naruto unsurprisingly maintained his balance, to her combined awe and annoyance, with the latter emotion coming in greater supply when she realized that he wasn't making any effort to show off his impeccable grace — it was all very natural for him, or at least it seemed that way. Her thoughts, though, quickly returned to marvelling at the bird's sheer _size_.

'Wow... this thing could probably swallow a Legion _whole_ if it wanted to,' she thought, her astonishment preventing her from voicing her thoughts out loud.

"...Well, no sense in wasting our time. Let's get going," Naruto declared in a relatively calm manner. At this, the giant bird started flapping its wings, whipping up huge gusts of wind that buffeted almost everything in sight. Lisanna, looking down at the ground as she noticed the effect the giant bird's takeoff had on it, winced, imagining how it would have probably sent her flying had she not been perched atop it.

"WAIT!" she cried, raising her voice so that she could be heard over the howling winds conjured up by the summoned bird's takeoff, and she knew that she'd probably have to scream herself hoarse just to speak with Naruto while they were airborne, if this was any indication. "What about the guild?!"

"What about them?" Naruto shouted in return, looking back at her as they took off skyward. "They left you behind! Why worry about people who only look out for themselves?" Sure, they were a fun group, but they were still pretty shitty for so easily leaving her behind like that.

"They're my friends!" the petite girl shouted, just barely shaking off the crestfallen look on her face that resulted from the foreigner's cutting words. Harsh as they were, though, she couldn't help but wonder if her friends at Edolas Fairy Tail fought to stay and wait for her or not — the mere prospect of her Edo-siblings basically acquiescing to the decision to leave her behind filled her with a strange sadness. It was unlikely, sure, but it was a legitimate concern given that their relationship was not as close as it should have been.

"That just makes it worse!" Naruto responded. "What kind of friends just leave you behind like that? That's... wrong!"

Lisanna didn't know what to say about that, so held her peace, but not before giving him a few more pleading looks. Did she mean for him to search for them?

When she noticed him look back at her in concern, she stood shakily, shaking her head with a scoff. "Look at me. Moping when we're heading straight into a fight... I'm so pathetic." The fact that she was helping perpetuate the inaccurate and overstated 'damsel in distress' stereotype really irked her, even though she didn't consider herself to be a warrior, really.

Being reduced to a civilian for the better part of two years did that to you.

Even so, there were no excuses for such behavior; it was a poor mindset to have, regardless of how one looked at it, especially considering that they were bound for quite the significant conflict. Hopefully, Lisanna thought, Naruto would be up to the task, because she wasn't feeling all too confident in engaging in a serious fight. If his confidence was any indication, though, it was their enemies, not them, who would have to worry about what was to come.

* * *

[|||]

(A Short Time Later — In the Skies Amongst the Clouds)

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! _AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"_

"OI! COULD YOU, LIKE, STOP THAT? IT'S GETTING REALLY ANNOYING!"

"SORRY, BUT I... I CAN'T HELP IT! THIS IS SO CRAZY!"

"I GET ALL THAT, I REALLY DO, BUT DO YOU HAVE TO SCREAM INTO MY _EAR?_ IT'S NOT A VERY NICE FEELING, YA KNOW! IN FACT, IT PRETTY MUCH _SUCKS!"_

"BUT I CAN'T LET GO OF YOU!" Lisanna screamed in protest, having grabbed a hold of Naruto shortly after the bird he had referred to as his 'summon' took off through the skies at what seemed to be warp speed. In her defence, this was the very definition of a bumpy ride. "WHAT WILL I HOLD ON TO, IF NOT YOU?"

"HOW ABOUT THAT FOOT OVER THERE?" Naruto asked, referring to the third leg on his bird summon's back.

"WHAT? YOU MEAN THE THIRD FOOT BEHIND THAT THIRD_ WING?!"_ the white-haired girl asked shrilly, incredulous at the abnormal anatomical features of Naruto's winged ally.

"YEAH, THAT'S THE ONE! DON'T WORRY, IT'S SAFE AS LONG AS THAT WING ISN'T BEING USED, SORTA LIKE THE WAY THINGS ARE NOW!"

"AND _WHAT_, PRAY TELL, WOULD IT ACTUALLY BE USED _FOR?"_

As they came up upon the vast flock of Legions headed their way, Naruto glanced back at her with a confident smirk, saying, "THIS!"

To her growing horror, the previously inactive appendage unfurled itself and started flapping vigorously, propelling the giant bird they were perched upon into a corkscrew-like fashion as it accelerated, spiralling into the ranks of the Royal Army's winged animals.

_"CRAAAWWW!"_

What ensued was an unforgiving slaughter of epic proportions, with countless Legions being absolutely shredded left and right, and while the violent action did answer Lisanna's question, it didn't change the fact she was still so very scared out of her mind.

Once their ride righted itself, she watched as the Legions that had been cut down by the brown bird's incredibly lethal drill-shaped beak plummeted to the ground below, a good number of them dead before they even hit the ground. As for the soldiers riding the slaughtered swine-like creatures, she knew not what happened to them, but one could hazard a guess as to their fate.

It was... frightening.

"...DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION?" Naruto asked needlessly.

The blue-eyed girl didn't say anything, clenching said eyes shut as she clutched onto Naruto, her arms wrapped around his torso in a vice grip while she whimpered despondently.

"MAN, I COULD REALLY USE SOME GOGGLES!" Naruto shouted randomly as they cleaved through another cluster of the wispy-winged creatures. "HEY, LISANNA! DO YOU KNOW WHERE I COULD GET A PAIR?"

She didn't, but if he was dead-set on getting himself some goggles, then she'd have to make sure that he got _her_ a blindfold, because she wasn't sure if she was willing to subject herself to watching much more of _this._

She mewled as she felt them enter another vertigo-inducing spiral, knowing that meant that more Legions were falling prey to the devastating drill-spin attack of the bird at Naruto's beck and call. Part of her marvelled that they hardly felt any resistance from the flying bodies, as if it was all so effortless on the bird's part.

After a few more turns of this, they soared upwards, slowing into a glide as they settled into an altitude far above the other occupants of the Edolas skies. "Finally," Lisanna said hoarsely, breathing deeply as she relinquished her securing hold on Naruto, glad that she no longer had to raise her voice to be heard over the howling winds that came about as a result of the freaky fowl's aerial prowess. "Is... is it over?"

Naruto didn't answer, peering down solemnly as he scanned the scattered remains of the Royal Army's Legion Corps. When Lisanna joined him in looking down to see what had him so silent, she gasped in surprise.

The Kingdom's vaunted Legion Corps had been utterly decimated, with over three-quarters of the numbers that had been sent in pursuit of them ripped to bits by Naruto's vastly superior winged mount. The ground below them, consisting of the vast countryside that laid between Fairy Tail's usual base of operations and the town named Sycca, was littered with bodies of both Legion and human alike.

Naruto... did he know he was capable of doing this all along? Did he really believe himself strong enough to so thoroughly dominate their enemies despite being so incredibly outnumbered? It was... nothing short of astounding.

"What now?" Lisanna croaked. She wasn't fond of the sight, but reasoned to herself that it was a necessary evil, lest her fellow Fairies get caught up in all this madness and get themselves killed. Legions were creatures that the Royal Army used to terrorize the citizens of Edolas; the fewer of them there were, the better, especially now that it seemed that war had broken out.

"Hang on," Naruto said, still scouring the remainder of their opponents who were fortunate enough to not suffer his summon's wrath, "I'm looking for..."

He trailed off as the sound of a Legion close by roaring registered in their ears, drawing their attention to it. On its back were two figures that Naruto seemed to recognize, based on his reaction to catching sight of them.

"...It's them..." he whispered as if in a trance, while the yellow-beaked bird rose slightly higher than before to maintain a higher altitude than their enemies.

"Um... who?"

"Oh, sorry," the blond said sheepishly. "I was just talking to myself... about _them._ It's just, I was wondering where these two were. I had thought they'd've run away or something."

"Yeah? And just _who_ are you talking about?" she asked irritatedly.

"Um... that big black talking cat and that redheaded girl I fought outside the Royal City," he responded casually.

"What?! You _fought_ them?!" Lisanna half-asked, half-shouted, realizing he was referring to none other than Erza Knightwalker and Pantherlily.

"Yyyyyeah. What, didn't Lucy tell ya? I kicked their asses. And, get this — I'm probably gonna have to _again!_ Wish me luck, eh?"

"Huh? W-wait! Don't leave me here!" she shouted after him as he leapt off his bird's back, shocked and upset that he'd so recklessly dismount and leave her on her own like that.

"Don't worry, I'm right here, ya know."

Gasping with a hand held to her chest in a futile bid to quell her erratic heartbeat at being so easily started, Lisanna turned to find Naruto standing behind her as if he had never left. "Don't _do_ that!" she scolded, feeling very upset with him. "I don't want you fighting Erza and whoever else the Army sends after us, okay?"

"Too late," 'Naruto' said as he pointed downwards, drawing Lisanna's attention to _another Naruto_ slamming a purplish sphere of energy into the back of Erza's Legion, sending it down to the earth as it was devastated by the attack.

She had only looked away for the briefest of instances! What on earth had happened?

* * *

[|||]

(Moments Before)

"About time you got back," Erza growled as Pantherlily flew in, retracting his wings as he landed next to her on the back of her prized Legion. While he had a Legion of his own (a result of his status as a Division Commander), he deliberately avoided using it in favour of flying on his own, uncaring of the fact that Legions were capable of achieving great speeds.

"Hmph. If I didn't know any better I'd say you actually cared," the bipedal panther said. When she snarled at him in response, visibly offended at the remark, he smirked.

Why _would_ she care, anyway? Unless... "...You need my help to take down Uzumaki? Is that it?"

"Feh. Forget I asked," the redhead said grumpily, still irked at the reminder that she'd been so easily bested by the blond interloper.

Pantherlily was glad for his quick thinking in diverting her attention to her own failure regarding their opponent. The last thing he needed was for her line of questioning to delve too deeply into his external activities. His dealings with Queen Shagotte needed to stay discreet.

While he still abhorred the elders who saw fit to banish him for the most trivial of reasons, he was nevertheless inclined to prevent Extalia's demise, which he had recently learned was one of Faust's ultimate goals.

Just because he had become a turncoat to the nation of his birth didn't mean that he would stand idly by while his homeland was marked for destruction. As a matter of fact, the primary reason he'd joined Faust's army was due to the intensity of the negative feelings he had for the land in which he was born. Being discarded in such a manner despite all he'd done was a hard pill to swallow, as unjust as it was, and while it was a rash decision in hindsight, he was too prideful to renege on his commitment to the human king.

Until now.

As they picked up speed, drawing closer and closer to the assembled air corps of the Royal Army, Lily took the opportunity to look around, and when he saw just how much of the army had been deployed, panic raced through his heart. 'How could I have been so _stupid,'_ he thought, harshly scolding himself as he realized what this all meant.

Faust intended to capture Uzumaki and complete his coup of Edolas all in one fell swoop.

Why else would he unleash the entirety of the army he had at his disposal for one lousy mage? This wan't even including the ground troops from each of the Four Magical Warfare Divisions, which had apparently mobilized as well, for reasons Faust saw fit not to tell them of. Them being out of the loop — despite the fact that between the two of them, they oversaw half of said troops — wasn't all that big of a surprise (as Erza pointed out to him sourly) given that the two captains had been scouring the countryside as of late in search of Fairy Tail. The rogue guild had predictably fled underground to wherever it was they liked to hide, while they, having come up empty-handed, were not commanding their respective divisions, which in turn had mobilized on the King's order.

When they had neared enough to see the mass of troops in the distance, they were shocked at what laid before their eyes.

There were more Legions on the ground, mutilated and crippled, then there were still whole and healthy in the air.

When a massive shadow loomed over them, they soon saw the reason why; it was the first glimpse they caught of the predator that had been preying on their ranks. It was a bird, one with an appearance so odd they couldn't help but gape at it. Before they could do anything about it, though, it soared up even higher than it was before, but not before a figure that was tiny by comparison leapt from its back, plummeting towards them.

"It's him!" Erza hissed.

Pantherlily narrowed his eyes, realizing that his easily incensed companion was correct in her observation. It _was_ him.

"UZUMAKI!" the redhead yelled, clearly eager to reengage him, but before Pantherlily could say anything to curtail his worked-up companion, the blond held his right hand out in front of him, clutched within his left, free-falling all the while.

'What is he doing?' the black Exceed wondered.

Erza, to his eyes, didn't seem all too concerned with what it was he was doing; all she seemed was determined to get the better of him in this clash.

"I've got you now," he could hear her mutter, a dark look in her eyes the likes of which he hadn't seen in a long time. In a flash, she quickly morphed her spear into its cannon form, a long barrel forming at its end as she quickly fired off a shot of bright red energy to blast him out of midair; she was wholly determined to prevent him from completing his technique, and the Exceed was inclined to think her preemptive attack would be successful.

The attack, which as far as he recalled was potent enough to pierce her opponents, came upon the dive-bombing young man with all haste, but he match its speed with his own attack, reaching out with a glowing blue sphere to counter the energy projectile.

To their collective surprise, the attack was actually absorbed into Uzumaki's own spell, though based on his wince and the sparks of energy arcing around and through his arm, Pantherlily suspected the assimilation process wasn't all that seamless.

He did deem it a success for the battle-adept mage, though, based on how it morphed into a bright purple ball that vibrated within his hand in a pulsating manner.

"Take THIS!" the interloper yelled fiercely, slamming it into the back of Erza's Legion as he landed between them. The creature bellowed painfully in response; the attack must have been wreaking havoc on its innards (made somewhat apparent by the animal spewing copious amounts of blood), as the only outward marker denoting the attack's success was the burned fur on the Legion's back at the point of impact, as well as the deeply engraved spiral marking at said spot.

Almost immediately, the creature, devastated by the attack, started its unwilling descent to the earth as it made its way to join its other fallen brethren that had been cut down earlier. Pantherlily, anticipating as much, was quick to manifest his angel-like wings to prevent himself from falling helplessly in tow. He had half a mind to aid Erza, who he knew couldn't fly since she was a human and all, and was about to do just that before he was surprised by the sight of her remaining afloat thanks to her spear, whose head had turned into a long, obsidian blade as it maintained a small, black sphere of energy below her.

"My Gravity Spear," she explained at his questioning look. Not saying anything else, she looked down at the man who had the power to so casually take apart hundreds of Legions, including her own. He by now had very easily landed on the ground, amongst the mangled bodies of both humans and Legions.

'At least he's left a good portion of the humans alive,' Pantherlily thought, finding such a fact to be nothing short of miraculous if he were to believe that they all suffered precipitous drops similar to the one Erza's Legion had. A small, _small_ part of him was sorely disappointed that more of them hadn't been killed, since they still posed a threat to Extalia with their vastly superior numbers, but he crushed that rebellious sentiment ruthlessly, feeling that senseless death wouldn't have solved much of anything.

When they noticed the blond just standing there looking up at them, he asked his prideful companion, "Does he mean for us to go down and join him?"

The burly Exceed frowned as he noticed Erza scowl at his query, who was clearly irked at the mere prospect of doing anything according to their opponent's desires. "No. We attack at range, from up here in the air," she said defiantly, making to modify her weapon to maintain her floating position while preparing to pepper him with long range spells. Uzumaki seemed to realize her plan, though, raising a hand up toward them, palm open.

The next instant was nothing but a painful blur for Pantherlily, who ended up eating dirt as he was slammed into the ground, violently. While his hearing was muffled due to the ringing in his ears in the immediate aftermath of the disorienting technique, he could faintly make out Erza's pained wheezes, and so could only assume that she had experienced treatment similar to that he had just endured. The respective forces of their impacts produced small craters in the ground, complete with hairline fissures as they were all too rapidly reintroduced to being ground bound.

Looking around, the Exceed noted the terrain where they now found themselves to be rocky and arid, not unlike the small valleys within the mountain ranges found outside most of the settled regions of the continent. He didn't know whether such terrain would prove to be to his and Erza's advantage, but he felt like he would have liked his chances a lot more if things went down in a more familiar setting.

Sure enough, in the far distance, he could see a town from the mountain range they were now within (Louen), and in another direction he caught sight of another town with more of an architectural feel to it (Sycca), with its buildings actually appearing to be decently constructed.

"Sorry," they heard the young man apologize good-naturedly, verifying beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the one responsible for bringing them down out of the air, "but I like getting up close and personal when I fight. I don't have a lot of long-range ninjutsu to throw at you guys, at least ones that aren't outright lethal, so I'm not about to let _you_ shoot at me as you like, you know?"

"Tch," the large black cat heard Erza scoff, who had quickly climbed to her feet in a show of bravado meant to show their opponent that his attack had little effect on her. While he was more curious as to what the blond meant by 'ninjutsu', Erza seemed more concerned with what he said in explanation for what he did, saying, "What kind of warrior tries to explain away his actions when he does something in a fight?" Her attempt at bluster was ill-advised, the Exceed thought, seeing as how she was still a bit wobbly and unsteady on her feet; at the very least, she was in no position to be so openly critical.

Pantherlily himself was still on one knee, gathering himself; while he had been intent on fighting Uzumaki first, he wouldn't mind if Erza performed her usual song and dance, engaging their opponent heedlessly while he sat back and rested for a bit. Hopefully she wouldn't get herself killed or anything...

"I'm not just a warrior, you know," Uzumaki said irreverently, but answered her rhetorical question nonetheless as he said arrogantly, his good cheer seemingly diminished, "and I told you _why_ I did that because I want you to know that anything you even manage to do will only be because _I _allow it."

Pantherlily knew a taunt when he heard one, and the sight of a snarling Erza charging headlong towards the blond as he smirked darkly confirmed his thoughts on the exchange. "Erza, stop!" he shouted, forcing himself to stand, not wanting her to step into the trap he knew she was running right in to, despite such a desire running contrarily to his earlier thoughts.

"Shut _up,_ Lily!" she screamed back at him, unwilling to back down from such a challenge, the consequences be damned. She was clearly determined to beat him, regardless if he had the advantage or not.

Brandishing the Gravity Core incarnation of her Ten Commandments Spear, she unleashed an orb of gravity that arced with energy as it rapidly expanded in size at the spear's tip before ejecting it at point blank range at Uzumaki. It seemed he realized just what the attack was (or perhaps he just didn't care), because he stood his ground despite Erza's becoming dangerously close to him.

What happened next was so ballsy that it put the fact that the blond had been basically unaffected by the sudden shift in gravity out of Pantherlily's head.

Uzumaki produced another blue sphere in his right hand, an action which drew its own taunts from Erza. "Is that all you know how to do?!" she jeered, conveniently forgetting about his incredibly potent gravity magic which he had successfully unleashed upon them twice in as many encounters. In response, he dispelled his own magical sphere of energy and replaced it with one as ridiculously large as Erza's, even larger than his own body, a development that wiped the smirk off Erza's face and only increased Lily's anxiety.

"Shit," he grumbled, diving behind the makeshift cover that was a disabled Legion as he heeded the warning his instincts all but screamed at him regarding the impending clash of techniques, despite the evidence to the contrary as seen when Erza and Uzumaki's attacks last collided a short time ago. His decision was soon proven to be quite prudent, though, as Uzumaki's blue absorption sphere failed to subsume Erza's Gravity Blast due to its instability, leading to an earth-shaking explosion that seemed to engulf the two of them.

When the explosion finally died down, Lily stepped out from behind his impromptu cover, completely unharmed thanks to his quick thinking. The explosion that resulted from the two colliding techniques must not have been as violent as he'd thought it would be, though, since both Erza and Uzumaki merely had their clothes scuffed up despite being at the relative epicentre of the blast, although they were sent sprawling due to their close proximity to the detonation.

Seeing Erza now temporarily incapacitated, Pantherlily took that as his cue to try his luck with the strange human; he was surprisingly hardy, already back on his feet with a self-deprecating smile on his face. The more Lily thought about it, though, the more he saw this as an opportunity: Faust intended to use Uzumaki's potent power to secure the ascension of his magic-deficient race to top dog status at the expense of the overlord species that were the Exceeds, so if he could defeat the blond human here, he could hide him away until Faust expended all of the magic at his disposal. Sure, he'd have to do something about the technicians who oversaw the operations that went down in the Anima chamber to stop them and ensure any energy they procured wasn't put to use, but he'd worry about that when the time came.

Pantherlily moved in to attack, drawing his blade before shortening it to increase its maneuverability and make it easier to handle. Charging the shinobi with all the speed he had at his disposal, he put his impressive swordsmanship on display, attacking his whisker-marked opponent with a variety of slashes, swipes, thrusts, and stabs.

None of them hit.

While Uzumaki was sweating slightly as a result of the attacks, the winged panther knew that this was purely out of physical exertion, not a feeling of any sort of danger. While he himself was extremely skilled with a sword, he still fought as a conventional swordsman, and he was starting to feel like such rigidity in his style was holding him back despite how ruthless he knew he could be. He may as well have had no flair, no unpredictability, for it all resulted in a seemingly easy fight on his opponent's part.

Seeing his ally in Erza begin to gather herself much like he had earlier, Lily started exerting himself even more, seeking to defeat and subdue the escaped prisoner before she could get another crack at him. Unfortunately for him, Uzumaki also seemed to notice that her return to battle was close at hand, and, probably out of a sense of not wanting to have to fight them both simultaneously, worked to end their current engagement.

Sidestepping a vertical slash, Lily saw the blond quickly form a yet another of those blue magical spheres in his right hand and could only watch helplessly as it was smashed into his magic sword, causing him to curse, "My Bustermarm! Shit!" as it was reduced to pieces. The man-sized cat didn't have time to mourn his obliterated weapon, though, as the blue-eyed teenager was quick to grasp his own weapon, a small, magic dagger, and swing it at the Exceed warrior. Pantherlily's battle instincts allowed for him to dodge what he perceived to be a haphazard swing, but when he felt the area immediately adjacent to his left eyebrow split open, he couldn't hold back a gasp that conveyed a mixture of the surprise and pain he felt. How? How did it _hit?_ He had dodged it!

Uzumaki, smirking at how easy it was to inflict damage on him, said slowly, "That was my _wind_ chakra, you know. If you didn't jump back, I would have cut your head clean open."

The feline warrior snarled at him in anger; what the hell was he talking about? He _did _cut his head open; the blood running over half of his face said as much. Despite being distracted by the rivulets of blood running down over his left brow, Pantherlily leapt back and away from Naruto as he decided to bow out of the fight while he was ahead, keeping a fair distance between himself and his clearly superior opponent while still remaining in the small clearing within the mountain range. He was clutching his wound, holding his hand over the cut that was practically on his left eyebrow in order to keep the blood out of his eye.

"Long range attacks won't work on him," he heard Erza mutter to herself quietly, obviously thinking that she'd actually prove to be a match for the seemingly superior Earthland mage. Lily doubted as much. He had no doubt that the blond was a well-rounded fighter, and he found it both amusing and saddening that in decimating over one third of the Edolas Royal Army — which was comprised primarily of the Legion Corps — Uzumaki had done more for Extalia (albeit unknowingly) than he ever had.

When Erza next charged the blond, incensed that he had rebuffed her previous attack with relative ease, she had the tip of her spear transform into a prominent arrowhead-like shape with a white circle surrounded by a thick golden layer beneath the silver and black spearhead.

"Silfarion!" she shouted, her speed skyrocketing absolutely thanks to the effects of her Velocity Spear.

To his surprise, the blond, who seemed to be caught flat-footed and completely off guard by this wholly unexpected development, just barely managed to prepare himself for the rapidly incoming female warrior. Before the boost, her speed wasn't reputable by any stretch of the imagination (although she was far more agile than he himself was, Lily noted objectively), so for someone who'd never seen this ability, it was no surprise that they'd be caught unawares in such a way.

While the foreign warrior recovered admirably, pulling out a matching magic dagger to make a pair (where did he even get those, anyway?), the Exceed's sharp red eyes noticed him close his mismatched left eye with a grimace. What was with that eye, anyway? Was it some sort of magical implant?

It seemed he was going to engage Erza as he was — with only one eye, though he didn't seem all too concerned with doing so, what with that damnable smirk of his still prominent on his face — and so readied his dual-wielded weapons to parry Erza's triangular pointed spear.

The hot-headed woman darted in with a swiftness far above anything she would have been capable of ordinarily, swinging her spear in a vicious upwards slash as if she intended to split his face in two. Uzumaki managed to parry the attack, though it seemed to be a close call given his self-inflicted issues with depth perception. Pantherlily frowned heavily at the sight; Erza was too good a fighter to miss such a welcoming vulnerability, which meant that she was a good bet to beat him now if she capitalized on his blind side, which she would most assuredly do.

Uzumaki never gave her the opportunity, though, quickly reopening his magic eye as he raised both arms to parry the follow-up strike by Erza, although it was done in an unorthodox fashion; the dagger in his right hand blocked the downward swipe, while the short blade in his left hand came down on top of Erza's stymied speartip, trapping it in its place.

So the eye thing was all an act; he'd certainly had the Exceed fooled, and he wasn't even fighting the blond man, so for him to have baited Erza was of no surprise to him. Erza tried to wrench her prized weapon free, but quickly found that in order to do so, she'd have to eclipse the spiky-haired blond in strength, a feat that she found that she wouldn't be able to do.

"So... what now?" she asked sternly. "We are at an impasse; neither of us can attack or defend without discarding our weapons."

"Speak for yourself," the blond said with a sly smirk, before a _third arm_ sprouted from his chest.

"Wh-what the _fuck?!"_ was all Erza managed to utter before the seemingly artificial arm grabbed her around her throat so roughly that her scarf may as well have not been there. _"Urk!"_

When it then lifted her clear into the air, she grabbed and scratched at the fingers enclosed around her neck, her lustrous, wavy red hair swinging from side to side as she kicked her legs frantically in an effort to escape. At the same time, her multi-purpose spear fell to the ground in a muted thud, forgotten in her panic at the unexpected turn in events.

'Is... is he trying to execute her?!' Lily thought worriedly, staring helplessly at the sight. "Argh... _shit!"_ he heard himself grumble, shaking off his petrification as he dashed in to help his choking comrade, determined not to let her die.

Uzumaki looked at him briefly, that goddamned smirk still plastered on his face, before he brought his two normal hands together to form a strange, cross-like hand sign.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

In short order, the dark-furred Exceed was confronted by a doppelgänger, who quickly punched him harshly, the strike catching him clean in the solar plexus as he was knocked flat on his back, gasping and wheezing. So the guy could duplicate himself now? In light of this latest twist, only one word could sum up the feline warrior's thoughts on the matter, a word that was prominent in his mind in the wake of his failure, one that served as his last conscious thought as his vision darkened in his body's quest to shut itself down in response to the vicious blow.

'...Fuck.'

* * *

**Not much to say, except that the next chapter shouldn't take nearly so long barring anything untoward happening for me. 'Till next time, folks.**

**CS.**


	5. Edolas World War: Cataclysm

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Edolas World War – Cataclysm**

* * *

"YAH!" a young woman yelled fiercely, lashing out with her whip as she unleashed it in order to ensnare the three hapless fools who'd decided to charge her.

"Ack!"

"Guh!"

"Urk!"

The magic-enforced weapon crackled with energy as it coiled around the necks of the three infantrymen and electrocuted them harshly, yet finitely — a function of the lacrima-powered weapon which took into account the limited amount of energy it had at its disposal to make effective use of.

"Heh. That's another three down," Lucy muttered as she retracted her magic whip, dashing off to engage other hostiles. The three foot soldiers that had been introduced into her tender care collapsed in a single heap, motionless and forgotten.

"What the fuck? Jet! Droy! Are you actually gonna let Lucy outdo you?!"

"And why shouldn't I?!" Lucy shouted back tauntingly at Levy as she dispatched another couple of soldiers. "More than that, why the hell are you blaming _them?_ It's _your_ fault! Your weapon's too clunky for straight-up fights. You need Jet and Droy to draw the enemy's attention away from you!"

Levy grumbled at that, visibly angry at how true Lucy's statement rang; while she was indeed able to mow down veritable hordes of the Royal Army's ground troops thanks to her magic cannon, she needed Jet and Droy to cover for her when any enemies closed in on her position. Given how many enemies she had taken out, it was no surprise that her two teammates had been run ragged, since eliminating her had become the current priority of their enemies.

The guild as a whole couldn't be blamed for how they had ended up in this situation, given the unforeseen nature of it all; while they had been furtively travelling beneath the ground as per usual, the earth had inexplicably started to split apart, with massive fissures opening up that coincided with pulses of energy that made it all too obvious that it was anything but a natural occurrence. What was so concerning about it all, though, was what the possible underlying cause of this phenomenon was — who, or what, was doing this? Didn't the people involved know that the world was tearing itself apart because of what they were doing?

Levy had hypothesized that the very fact they had ended up in an all-out fight with a significant portion of the Royal Army's forces was linked to that, which Lucy found to be rather obvious seeing as how the earth practically spitting them out set them up to either fight or flee, what with the Royal Army's ground troops converging upon their position shortly after their emergence from below ground. While in the past they would have quite easily taken the latter option — a recourse that was very much available to them given how their guild hall's involuntary surfacing preserved the magical energy that would have been expended had they emerged of their own volition — there was too much risk involved in such a course of action. If they retreated in the face of adversity in the form of Faust's forces like they always did, they ran the risk of subjecting themselves to whatever violent reaction the earth would have in store for them underground due to whatever was aggravating it. They were lucky enough to have escaped unscathed the first time around, and not even Lucy was foolhardy enough to try her luck with that.

A few of the spear-wielding soldiers Lucy had beaten to a pulp had boasted of how it had been their king whose power had adversely affected the environment (the ushering in of a new age, they had said), but she doubted their claims since she couldn't see the tyrant king having a weapon with such power at his disposal and keeping it under wraps when he could have just used it to finally wipe out Fairy Tail once and for all.

Sure, she was overestimating her guild's importance as far as perceived threats to Faust and his oppressive kingdom were concerned, but none of that even considered the possibility that the force behind the current cataclysmic events taking place was something else altogether; as power-hungry as Faust was, not even he would be alright with sending the whole of Edolas to ruination and destruction.

Looking around with a distinct air of satisfaction, Lucy took pride in the fact that her guild mates, despite being forced into combat in such an adverse (and frankly, unexpected) situation, were doing an admirable job holding their own despite the sheer numbers of their enemies. As a matter of fact, things were starting to look really good for them until the telltale roar of the dark-pinioned creatures that (alongside the Fairy Hunter) routinely terrorized them sounded out.

The Legions' roars, which were ominous in and of itself, were subsequently corroborated by their broad shadows combining to envelop the splintered battlefield, invoking a sense of doom and gloom within her fellow Fairy Tail members. Natsu, who had been doing surprisingly well despite his crippling fear, damn near dropped his sword at the sight, while Elfman cowered next to a despondent Mirajane. The two of them were already negatively affected by Lisanna's absence, and the appearance of the devilish creatures would surely only add to said despair.

"Levy–!" the busty blonde barked, intending to instruct her rival to get back to the guild in order to operate it for defensive purposes; she hadn't needed to, though, as Levy was already making to do what she was thinking.

"I know!" the girl snapped back, lugging her clunky magic cannon on her back as she retreated back to the mobile guild hall, escorted by her two teammates. "If I do this, we won't have enough magic power to leave, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde grumbled, but took solace in the fact that their decision was made much easier by the periodic aftershocks that occurred; she didn't see any way they could traverse all of that without any complications. Hell, they were fortunate enough as it was that they came out of the first edoquake relatively alright.

_"Craaawww!"_

"Wh-what the hell?" Lucy uttered, deeply alarmed by the thunderous squawk that drowned out the roars of the approaching Legions. When she looked up, she saw a gigantic, shaggy-feathered brown bird that looked downright freaky moving contradictorily to its appearance; while it looked ugly as hell, it moved with impeccable grace for a winged animal, gliding effortlessly through the sky. The fact that it suddenly accelerated into a corkscrewing motion and subsequently ripped the late-arriving Legions to pieces with an almost vicious ease had her amending the previously critical thoughts she had of it, though.

"Uh... Levy?" she called out, contacting the guild's machinist through one of their few communicative lacrimas (the guild had appropriated them whenever possible in order to supplement its members that were out in the field) as she witnessed the incredibly rapid change of circumstances. "...Yeah, we won't be needing you and the guild's magic anymore."

"What?! Quit fucking around, Lucy! Give me a sec, and I'll take out those Legions!"

"No need," Lucy said airily, more than pleased to let Levy know that her services were no longer needed. She felt the beginnings of a smirk start to grow on her face. "Just... see for yourself."

"...What. The. _HELL...?"_

Levy wasn't the only one at a loss for words. Lucy herself couldn't find the words to aptly describe what it was they were all bearing witness to. That bird's beak was _lethal._ As a whole, it really put everything in perspective regarding the winged animals Faust's army had at their disposal; this random bird put them all to shame with its sheer size, and its speed was so far superior to theirs that their defeat was a foregone conclusion. But...

"...Where the hell did it come from? Our luck ain't anything worth writing home about. It's... too good to be true. Dammit," she groused, already wary of their inevitable comeuppance that would surely arise as a result of their stroke of good fortune.

"Lu-Lucy-san, surely... surely this is good for us? Th... those Legions would have devoured us all," Natsu said as he approached her, wary of a potential outburst directed at his person despite the blonde's attention being held by the lone creature patrolling the skies.

"What's it gonna do now?" she mumbled to herself, already treating the apparent ally in the bird as a potential threat, a natural assumption given their lack of understanding regarding the motivations behind its actions. True enough, it flipped around in midair, making a sharp descent as it headed towards them.

"Oh... oh no! It's coming this way!" Natsu shrieked, heading for the proverbial hills as he fled from the rapidly incoming anatomical anomaly that was the giant drill-beaked bird that seemed to have turned on _them_ now. Running seemed to be a futile course of action, though, since none of them would have any hope of getting away on foot; it was just too fast.

"As I thought," Lucy said, her voice laced with a tinge of satisfaction at the fact that she was proven right, in spite of her mounting fear at the seemingly inevitable attack; as a result, she consequently readied her magic whip in preparation for corralling, or at least deterring, the aerial marvel.

"You can't seriously be thinking of taking that thing on," Wendy said incredulously, backing away as she set herself up to ensure she could get clear of where the bird would swoop in when it made its pass at them. Her tonfas had been bloodied after having spent the better part of the last hour bludgeoning anyone sorry enough to cross her path, but they were far from the ideal type of weapon in this scenario.

"Of course not, I'm not an idiot," Lucy said somewhat irritably. "But... that thing's _fast._ How the hell can we avoid it? We'd have a better chance confronting it — at least we'd be able to defend ourselves instead of exposing our backs to it when we try to run."

"Whatever," Wendy muttered, continuing to back away from Lucy so as to not make herself such an obvious target.

The bird screeched again, but as it neared them, it ceased its spiralling motion (a development that caused the lot of them to stop holding their breaths in their relief — not a one of them could ever remember a more intimidating sight), although it looked to Lucy that it still seemed hellbent on crashing into the ground. Before she could utter warning to evade the kamikaze attack, it was engulfed in a cloud of smoke.

_"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH~! _Oof!"

"Huh?" That... actually sounded like a young woman. "...Lisanna?"

"Unnnh... that jerk! _Hic!_ Wait 'till I... 'till I– _hic!_ 'Till I give him a piece of my _mind_... _hic!"_

The girl was so shaken she was hiccuping and shivering (her face was also tear-streaked in her fear), although Lucy got the feeling that she seemed to be pleased to be done with her ordeal, whatever it was.

'Wait a minute...' Lucy thought. 'Was she... riding that mutant bird... _that entire time? _Holy_ shit!'_ No wonder she was so freaked out. That animal looked scary as hell from a distance; the blonde didn't even want to entertain the thought of actually being near the damned thing.

"LISANNA!"

"Mi-Mira-nee..." the girl mumbled as she was wrapped up in a hug by her elder sister, who had seemed to snap out of her morose demeanour at the miraculous appearance of her short-haired little sister. Lucy could see why she was so worried, especially after that scare they had almost two years ago where they had thought she'd died. Elfman rushed in as well, never far from his elder sister as he tearfully engulfed them within his large, broad arms.

"Look," Lucy said, "while we're all glad for your little family reunion, now's not the time for all this. We're not out of the woods yet." As she said this, everyone in the guild gathered in front of the guild hall where they were, ready for the next move.

Surprisingly, Lisanna was the first to respond to her words of warning, saying, "Y... y-you're right, Lucy. Everything's happening so fast, and that means nothing good for us..."

"Why is it that the Royal Army attacked us in force?" Juvia inquired, no longer looking like her immaculate self (her normally well-coiffed hair was frazzled, among other things) thanks to the frenzied fighting she had taken part in. To her credit, though, she appeared to have no wounds on her person. "Are we at war? Has the kingdom finally decided they've had enough of us?"

"More than that," Wendy said, adding on to her fellow blue-haired mage's point, "would they really go to such lengths to destroy us? To destroy the guild?"

"Yes," Lisanna said, extracting herself from her siblings' grip as she stood up on two shaky legs. "The answer to all of those questions is _yes."_

"Lisanna," Lucy said, grabbing the girl's shoulders and, with the action, her attention.

"...Yeah?"

"Tell us _everything_ that happened."

* * *

[|||]

(Meanwhile — With Naruto)

After sending Pantherlily into a motionless heap, Naruto was quick to turn his gaze onto the woman he had in his unorthodox clutches. He didn't bother giving the fallen cat-man a second glance as he absentmindedly dismissed his clone, all the while sizing up the woman who had tormented the Fairy Tail guild to the point of being dubbed 'The Fairy Hunter'.

The Asura Path had to be one of the coolest abilities he now had at his disposal. When he had manifested the artificial arm thanks to the Path, his heart had raced in joyous relish as he took in the reaction that the proud woman now within his unrelenting grasp had made (the look on Pantherlily's face was a bonus). For her to go from the smug, self-assured confidence one could only assume after managing a stalemate (however brief) against a superior opponent, to expressing such pure, unadulterated shock at the latest ability he had demonstrated, he considered it to be a minor miracle that he had barely managed to restrain himself from assuming the large shit-eating grin that he had wanted to so badly display.

Holding himself back in that regard paid off rather quickly, though, as his mitigated expression at the turn of events (that taunting smirk, to be precise) provoked the bipedal panther into a most inadvisable confrontation that allowed for him to put the winged feline out of commission.

The Asura Path's ability to generate mechanized armour and weaponry was, in a word, fantastical; the fact that he could do things of this nature was eye-opening, to say the least. The most impressive thing about the Path, though, was that its capacity to manifest additional limbs could arguably be considered the most tame of its abilities, a fact which said a lot about its capabilities.

Retracting the supplementary arm from around Erza's neck and back into his chest, he produced a black receiver (a chakra receiver) in his right hand, intending to place it somewhere on the still-conscious redhead's flat, exposed stomach. Upon her throat's release from the frigid vice grip of his third arm, the brown-eyed young woman began coughing violently as she gasped and wheezed for air, collapsing to the ground as her hand gingerly coiled around her own throat in her efforts to soothe the pain of almost having her windpipe crushed.

After he pressed the black rod firmly against her abdomen — an action that prompted her to gasp weakly — only the briefest of moments passed before chakra chains from his Outer Path came forth from his other hand and wrapped around her, binding and restricting her as she started convulsing violently, her body being wracked with pain as a result the harsh restrictions that had been imposed upon her.

After a short amount of time, Erza seemed to get used to the feeling of having the ethereal chains tightly bound around her, merely hissing after having slumped down onto her side helplessly as Naruto towered over her fallen form. Even if she could move (which she couldn't), her renowned weapon was far out of her reach, making her a virtual non-entity as far as threats to the blond were concerned.

"Wh... why..." was all she managed to choke out, breathing shallowly yet harshly as she sucked wind.

"Why not?" Naruto said in response, smiling at the confusion etched on her face. "If I left you without doing anything, you would have just tried to attack me again or something. Tying you up helps both of us; I don't have to fight you, and you don't put yourself at risk of being killed."

Erza didn't know what to say to that. She'd been in countless fights, and if for whatever reason she didn't end up killing those she fought, they would have surely been turned off by her arrogance and sadistic tendencies and as a result, would have liked to see her dead. When she asked through gasping breaths why he didn't hate her or want her to die — why he was so different from others she had fought — he laughed, saying, "The difference is, I'm actually stronger than you." When she bristled at how easily he had said that, he continued, chuckling as he said, "I mean, when was the last time you got your ass kicked? It's probably been a while, right? What I'm trying to say is... why would I want to kill someone who wasn't strong enough to _force_ me to kill them?"

That got her attention. "Are you saying... _haah..._ that the only reason I'm... _haah..._ _alive_ right now is because... because I pose so little a _threat_ to you?"

Realizing that that was the wrong thing to say (particularly since he wanted to keep the conversation going, and the best way to do that was to maintain at least _some_ level of civility), he decided to change tracks blatantly, asking, "Why do you want to kill me so bad, anyway?" He was curious to know her motivations as far as their fight was concerned, and figured that the change in the topic of conversation would help her open up a little.

"I... I wasn't trying to kill you," she said at last, speaking up after a tense moment of silence, her ragged breathing lessening significantly in the time that passed.

"Really? 'Cause it sure looked like you were trying to kill me," he replied, not bothering to mention that he could instinctively infer such intentions from his opponents.

"Well, it may have looked like that, but it... it would have been a setback for us if I did. We... we need you alive to obtain unlimited magic; your power will ensure our nation's future success and survival."

Naruto smiled sardonically at how she spouted the company lines as he made a show of looking around at their surroundings — which, if it was any indication as far as what was to come, did anything but bode well for Edolas' future. "If you all really cared about your world and its future, you wouldn't have let this all happen."

'This' was the gradual, yet no less devastating, destabilization of almost the entirety of the western subcontinent of Edolas. Small tremors periodically wracked the landscape, miniature quakes that would only increase in area of effect and damage output if not somehow mitigated or rectified.

"This was inevitable," the woman said with a scoff, not even giving the deteriorating landscape a glance. She was more concerned with combating the sudden bout of sluggishness she was currently experiencing. "So the world's at risk of collapsing... so what? Sooner or later, it was bound to happen, especially with how limited the magic of Edolas was to begin with. The only reason we've survived this long is because the use of magic for nothing but the most essential of activities has been outlawed!"

"You mean the use of magic _at all_ has been banned, and only outside of the Royal City — if everyone in this world followed your stupid limits and rules, then you wouldn't have had to destroy the lives of others with that _Anima_ magic of yours."

"The Royal City–"

"–Is a goddamned paradise _in the form_ of a city; don't try and deny it. In case you forgot, I've actually been there," Naruto said, cutting off Erza's protest. "If you want to make life here in Edolas as great as you've dreamed of, you have to change your ways and do something different, because all it has gotten you is the pain of the innocent, the hatred of your allies, and the destruction of those you should be protecting. Following in Faust's footsteps has only led to your downfall; _that,_ Erza, was inevitable."

The young woman looked at him seriously, silent as she took in his words. Finally, she said, "While... there is some truth to what you said, would it really matter in the grand scheme of things? Once we obtained enough magic to sustain the lives of all humans, everything would have worked out."

"Yeah, but at what cost? What good would eternal magic be if you destroy everything else to get it? I mean, look at me," the blond said, dismissing her weak reasoning as he stood in front of the trussed up woman. "My power is what you all thought would set you up with endless magic, but at the same time, making an enemy out of someone like me isn't very good for your survival."

"Better this than certain death," the scarlet-haired girl muttered. When Naruto heard that, he shook his head; if she adhered to that sort of thinking, then even if — no, _when_ — he triumphed over her allies, they'd merely pin their world's destruction on what they (supposedly) lacked rather than what they (in particular) did.

"If that's how you really feel," Naruto said, "then we have nothing more to talk about."

"Eh? Wait a minute, you–" was all Erza was able to murmur before Naruto sent her into unconsciousness with the genjutsu made available to him by the Rinnegan.

The blond sighed. That was merely a convenient excuse for him to end their little talk without investing himself too deeply in the concerns of Edolas as a whole; he had a lot on his own plate already. Perhaps Erza would come around when confronted with more evidence to support his claims. For now, seeing as how she seemed more docile and receptive to his words, he retracted the chakra chains that had previously restrained her, freeing up her limbs, though she still remained knocked out.

...Strange. She seemed a little... gaunt. Odd, considering she looked fine mere moments before. And didn't her hair use to be a more vibrant red? It looked... bland.

His contemplative thoughts were abruptly cut short, though, when he saw a barrage of light-coloured spheres converging on his position. In a flash, his body was suddenly engulfed in the red, turbulent chakra of his bijū companion. Instinctively waving his newly formed chakra tails around him, he dispersed the incoming projectiles, causing them to explode in the air around him.

'What? Where'd those explosives come from?'

**"Keh heh heh. You always were an oblivious one, Naruto,"** a deep, gravelly voice intoned from within the dark recesses of his mind. The speaker, Kurama, smirked when it took notice of Naruto realizing its physical intercession of his behalf, chuckling as it maintained a constant flow to Naruto's chakra system with its own potent chakra in the aftermath of the whisker-marked shinobi being bombarded by missiles. **"What could possibly possess you to get so carried away that you'd lose track of any incoming threats? Does that 'sage mode' of yours mean nothing to you? Why don't you make use of it, eh?"** It was like old times, when the blond was a shrimp right out of the academy, needing to be bailed out by the crutch that was the vulpine Bijū's chakra.

Naruto smiled wryly at his companion's ribbing, keeping his mouth shut given the validity of its points. Actively drawing upon more of Kurama's unfiltered chakra, he had it solidify into a bubbling, roiling shell around him as he buffered it slightly with his own chakra to mitigate the strain it would otherwise have on him. As a result, his appearance had changed rapidly and drastically, highlighted by his now red-slitted right eye, significantly sharpened canines, and the thickened whisker markings on each cheek; the pupil of the Rinnegan eye thinned as well, shrinking into a miniature slit within the now-violet ringed, tomoed sclera. As he finalized his Version One cloak, complete with the translucent shroud of energy and the two large pointed ears atop his head, he mentally noted how much more in-control he was of it; he had currently manifested five tails in his initial jinchūriki transformative state.

**"It's not that surprising if you think about it... this is the first time that you've directly used the chakra I still have dominion over instead of the chakra you stole,** **since the time you actually stole it."**

'Hey! I didn't steal it!'

**"Right, right. You gained full control over a sizeable portion of my chakra, _fair and square._ Never mind the fact that you needed your mom hold me down with her accursed chakra chains long enough for you to land an attack on me."**

'...Whatever,' Naruto said dismissively, unwilling to admit that the bijū had a point.

Before the Fourth Shinobi World War, and especially before coming to an understanding with Kurama, such a utilization of the fox's chakra would not have been possible for him. In the past, especially during his pubescent years while training under Jiraiya (and due to his adversarial relationship with the Nine-Tails), making use of the tailed beast chakra was a risky proposition due to the adverse effects that would accompany it: the impaired mental faculties, the diminished cognizance of friend or foe, and the extremely harmful chakra poisoning he would suffer from having the raw bijū chakra running through his body for prolonged periods.

After befriending Kurama, though, these drawbacks were now no longer a factor, making it possible for him to use the bijū's chakra (at least the Version One incarnation) freely without any fear of those nasty side effects. The Version Two cloak, of course, remained to be seen, but the early returns in the matter were encouraging, to say the least.

The entire process of making use of Kurama's chakra after the multi-tailed fox took the initiative to ensure he did so (including their little conversation) happened near-instantaneously, leaving his latest opponent to stare upon the visage of the shinobi with the now beast-like appearance as he arrived within his metallic, magic dragon.

In a flash, the blond whipped his chakra tails around him again, deflecting a second volley of those magic missiles coming from said 'dragon'.

**"Well, well, well... I never thought a punk like you would be able to handily defeat my Magic War Commanders. Your little excursion ends here, though, boy. Before ****_Dorma Anim_****, you cannot triumph."**

'Looks like he's finally unleashed that 'secret' weapon of his,' the blond thought, recognizing the mechanical construct that appeared before him. Wanting to rile up the power hungry fool piloting the mecha dragon, he responded, "...Who the hell are you, and what's up with the oversized puppet?"

The man, despite being safely concealed within the confines of the machined, armoured dragon, said harshly, **"I am King Faust of the Royal Kingdom of EDOLAS! AND _YOU,_ BOY, WILL FOREVER SUPPLY THIS GLORIOUS WORLD WITH YOUR MAGICAL ENERGY!"** The loud proclamation was immediately followed by him deploying even more of those missiles from a small hatch on the machine's back, missiles which were again warded off by the tails of Naruto's initial jinchūriki cloak.

Naruto grinned. He had been anticipating this meeting, although he didn't really expect the use of _Dorma Anim_ given its incompletion. As far as Byro had been concerned, it was far from ready for deployment, which only meant one thing: if the old king lost this fight, he would be done for. Even if he somehow survived against Naruto, he would still be the one to have brought the very nation he had ruled over to ruin. And _that,_ Naruto thought, would be a more than fitting end for the deranged monarch.

**"Accursed boy! You will fall before my might!" **Directing his armored dragon to attack the blond once more, the old King kept spouting off at him about how he should 'submit' and 'relinquish' his power.

**"Well, would you look at that. He's still talking," **Kurama said, his gruff tone sounding amused at the man currently bellowing at his blond companion. **"You... meet the most interesting people, Naruto."**

Naruto shook his head at Kurama's comment. The bijū found almost anything and everything to be humorous if it had anything to do with screwing with the blond.

**"Tell me,"** Faust said, having seemingly calmed down, **"you stopped my missiles before... can you do it again?"**

This time, only four missiles were launched, but they were all thicker and appeared to be more volatile. Although they converged on Naruto's position quickly enough, they were a lot slower than their more flashy predecessors. The reason for their decrease in speed became clear when, instead of continuing on to impact with him, they detonated once they were merely within range of him.

Fortunately for him, his Version One cloak was more than capable of warding off the flames that threatened to swallow him whole courtesy of the more explosive missiles.

**"Im... impossible,"** Faust gasped aloud, stunned at the sight of his practically unscathed opponent. **"The explosion got you! It ****_got you!"_**

"It did," Naruto agreed, standing within a knee-deep crater riddled with spiderweb cracks — the work of the man's frivolous use of explosives. "What, is that all you got? Is this really all you can do? I can see why you want my power so badly."

He wanted to demoralize the man who would initiate a war for no discernible reason other than some perceived slight on his part; if there was one outcome he'd be alright with, it'd be with this warmonger beaten soundly, his spirit broken as the horrors of the war he spearheaded were brought down upon his shoulders. At the very least, he wanted to make the man think twice about doing such things again in the future.

**"Rrrrrgh... Dragon Rider's Spreader Cannon!"** the manic monarch screeched, desperate to inflict some sort of damage on the blond — literally _anything _would do.

The area in which Naruto stood was hit with a barrage of magical energy beams that ignited in flashes of fire; the attack was haphazard, with areas that the teenager was nowhere _close_ to being sprayed with the wide-ranged attack at an impressively high frequency. Naruto liked to think that the man was starting to be affected mentally, with the accuracy of his attack being so negatively influenced and whatnot.

Of course, another aspect of their battle that was starting to be overlooked was the actual environment in which they fought. In addition to the wayward attacks Faust heaved that, in his desperation, drastically impacted with the earth, Naruto's potent energy — which was foreign as far as this exotic world was concerned — also catalyzed the already rapid destabilization of Edolas, at least the subcontinent where they did battle. In concert, the two destructive forces were well on their way to devastating the planet one portion at a time, the former (via _Dorma Anim_) by greedily extracting what little magical power the world had, and the latter (Naruto himself) by his sheer power and presence.

A multitude of fissures cracked open in between and around them, a development which was quickly followed by steam billowing out from within the cracks in the earth. These occurrences were widespread, at distances as far as the eye could see. As the faults shifted against one another, the ground shook violently, a multitude of jarring quakes that had even the delusional king perpetually off-balance despite being inside that armoured vessel of his.

Once the widespread cannon fire attack had died down, Naruto countered with a simple chakra claw attack that ensnared and lifted the machine clear into the air where he then proceeded to slam it down into the ground, repeatedly. While the jarring impacts with the ground weren't doing too much damage to the Edolas superweapon, just being within the grasp of the gigantic limb composed of Kurama's chakra did more than its fair share of damage. The metallic exterior of the Dragon Knight, which had once appeared to have been immaculate and impervious, was now partially warped due to its repeated and constant exposure to the corrosiveness of the Kyūbi's chakra.

Stalling in his brute force attack as a result of spotting the motionless bodies of Erza and Pantherlily out of the corner of his eye, Naruto made a clone to get them out of the way and off of the battlefield while he himself relinquished his chakra cloak's grip on the metal dragon; the intervention on his part on behalf of the two Edolas Army War Commanders was actually quite timely, as they had been lying near a fissure that abruptly started to shift jarringly, a precursor to the heated billowing of steam rushing forth from the cracks in the earth.

After the clone had gotten the two defeated subordinates of Faust out of the way, it dispelled, which in turn provided him an update on his higher-priority clone's progress, which he had ignored in favour of fighting his latest opponent. In a flash, his thoughts were now occupied with his escape from Edolas as opposed to his current engagement.

Generating an Anima in reverse powerful enough to transport him out of Edolas was proving to be quite the chore, Naruto noted a bit sourly, but he was glad to see that some progress was finally being made on that front. While he already sought to get out of this place, the fact that the world seemed like it was gonna literally fall apart made it all the more imperative for him to seek such a departure.

His heart longed for the opportunity to get back to the Elemental Nations, and while his mind supplied the logical reasoning insofar as reminding him of the ramifications of using an all-encompassing technique like the Reverse Anima, in a lot of ways, he didn't really care for what it meant for Edolas as a whole.

Sooner rather than later, he was going to get out of here... at whatever the cost.

* * *

[|||]

(Earlier that day — Royal Palace, Outside the Anima Chamber)

"W-wait! Who are you? Y... you're not permitted to be here! Hey–! _GAH!"_

"You're not the first person to try and tell me that," Naruto said to the now-unconscious man as he left him to slump to the floor bonelessly. That was the thirteenth guard he had to dispatch that had been stationed outside of the Anima Chamber. Even with all the commotion being caused by the Boss, the place still garnered high priority status as far as guard postings were concerned.

After making sure to conceal the bodies so as to give the appearance that the high priority post was abandoned (something he thought should have been the case given the circumstances — it seemed even Byro underestimated the importance of the chamber which housed the Anima generator), Naruto entered through the giant banded steel doors, only to be met with mayhem as the various technicians, scientists and operators responsible for both the complicated maintenance and operations of the Anima machine scrambled around all helter-skelter.

Given how panicked and frazzled the chamber's occupants were, it was almost as if Naruto may as well have not been there; not a single person saw or detected him despite him not making any effort to conceal himself.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD!"

"Magic power is rapidly draining! It's... unprecedented! How is this _happening?!"_

"Where?! Where is it all _going?"_

"Here!" a woman shouted, pulling out a hologram-projecting lacrima, which portrayed a depiction of Edolas. The woman (who was middle-aged, moderate in height, and had light-brown hair which was streaked with gray) had a stern look about her. "This red dot is where all the magic is being drawn. If we don't manage it somehow, the world will collapse in on itself centered around that point!" Right on cue, a violent tremor shook the earth, causing everyone to freeze in their tracks momentarily before resuming their previously panicked actions with even more anxiety.

The brief pause was all the blond needed to gain his bearings, though, taking the opportunity to approach the one person in the room who wasn't running around like a madman. "I take it you've all gotten used to the little earthquakes by now," he said almost casually to the middle-aged woman.

"The correct term is 'edoquakes', but yeah, you could say that," she replied absently; Naruto recognized her as Byro's chief subordinate regarding Anima operations, though he didn't care to recall her name. She was currently focusing her attention on something else and was about to elaborate on what she had just said before she realized that someone had decided to speak with her instead of get to work on generating an Anima to help mitigate the magical consumption taking place in Edolas. "...Huh?"

Naruto smiled when she froze after turning to face him. She no doubt recognized him from his wanted posters — speaking of, hopefully the Originator wouldn't mind too much; those were a real annoyance — and probably didn't expect to see him here of all places. When he saw her give him a look rife with wariness, he smiled (he found her reserved reaction to be a pleasant surprise) before asking, "What were you saying?"

"We... while we don't know what exactly is causing those edoquakes, I'm really just concerned with finding out what in particular is the cause of the significant disparity of magical energy between the two halves of the continent. They're obviously connected, but..."

'So only Byro and Faust know about that little weapon of theirs,' Naruto thought, tuning her out when he realized she was out of the loop compared to the king and his Chief of Staff. He didn't even bother acknowledging the fact that she spoke to him truthfully; it was probably out of a sense of fear for what he might do to her if he caught her lying or something. "Why don't you try finding a solution?"

"That's... that's what I'm doing," the woman continued, a bit flummoxed at the line of questioning. This _was_ the man purported to be her superior's killer; what was his end game? "Everyone else is trying to dredge up an Anima to gather some magic to help balance things out, but it will be undoubtedly tough given the expected interference from Earthland..."

What went unsaid was that said interference would doubtlessly come from the king's exiled son, Jellal, whose efforts in such matters had served as a thorn in their side for the better part of the last seven years. Faust, infuriated at the fact that his wayward son had routinely gotten the better of the various professionals he had set about working on the _Anima_ project, had made things more difficult for them by diverting the funding he would have usually preserved for them towards other uses (of which he naturally made no mention of).

Given that they had already been largely unsuccessful as it was, the ensuing termination of their financial support had, in turn, led to even fewer successes on the _Anima_ front. As it was, their greatest success wasn't really even their own; when they had managed to extract a considerable amount of magic from another world just the other day, it was actually orchestrated by their deceased leader, Byro, and the king himself (and was probably where they had focused their funding and energies to ensure its success).

Naruto, aware of all of this, said dramatically, "Well, do I have a solution for _you_. Do me a favour and gather everyone here in this room, would you?"

The woman, seeming to realize that this was likely the reason he had come here, gave him a long, searching look before gulping and giving a hesitant nod as she set about doing as he asked.

When everyone had gathered, Naruto looked at them all strangely. Everyone here, every scientist, technician, operator, you name it, was...

_"...Old._ Why is everyone so... _old?"_

A few people scowled at his blunt observation, although they were justified in doing so — it _was_ a bit of an exaggeration, given how a good portion of them were middle-aged at most, including their interim superior.

'Seems like Byro hated young people,' Naruto thought. Given what he knew of the man, the revelation of his ageism wasn't all too surprising. The wrinkly old crone probably thought that anybody who wasn't of a certain age was too stupid or something.

"The reason I've called you all here right now," Naruto said, "is because there's only one way to save your world, and it's nothing like what any of you'd expect."

"And what's that, _young man?"_ an elderly man said crankily, still peeved at the blond's tactless utterance from earlier.

Naruto smiled as he took the snide remark in stride, opening his mouth to say only two words: "Reverse Anima."

Everyone freaked.

"WHAT?! Did you know that we're desperate for more magic power? Edolas is damn near depleted, and you tell us to relinquish what little we_ have?"_

"That's insane! _You're_ insane!"

"This is why Byro-sama only wanted people with experience! No sane, mature person would propose something so... so... _asinine!"_

"How do you even _know_ about that?"

"ENOUGH," Naruto said sternly, his thunderous voice — a result of his using chakra to project his utterance — echoing throughout the Anima chamber. It did its job, conveying his anger at their childish squabbling and shutting them all up in one fell swoop. "Reverse Anima will solve all your problems, because the problem right now is who — or _what_ — is taking all the magic power for themselves."

"Isn't it you?" a sniping voice piped up from within the little crowd.

"No," the shadow clone said, the smugness in his tone letting on that he knew who the true culprit was, and he knew they wouldn't like the truth of it. "It's your maniac king, Faust, who's responsible." He neglected to mention that Faust went to such drastic lengths on his creator's behalf, but these lackeys of Byro didn't need to know such details.

If they initiated the inverse of the technique they loved to use abundantly, then Faust's mecha-dragon would not only be unable to sustain itself, but the whole of Edolas would be bereft of magic, thus saving it from certain destruction. With only specific portions of the planet being introduced to stresses far beyond its capability to endure such things, that, along with the Boss' own colossal power throwing a wrench into everything, would do nothing but ensure at least a portion, if not the entirety, of Edolas' demise.

The Reverse Anima was an all-encompassing solution; it would undo everything Faust had done. Without magic, there wouldn't be a single thing that could take it all for itself — the balance of Edolas would be restored, and the planet would no longer be at risk of collapsing. And, bonus: the boss would be able to get the hell outta here!

"That claim is nothing but conjecture at best, and a fabrication at worst; there is no conclusive proof of our magic perpetuating the situation. Besides, King Faust will have our heads if he catches wind of this," the interim head of the Anima division said, speaking denials and making excuses. "With... without Byro-sama to convene directly with the King on our behalf, our hands are tied. We have no... influence, no _sway_. If we do as you say, if we follow _your_ orders in lieu of the king's, it will surely spell the end for us."

Hearing a smattering of mutters in agreement from the gathered Anima operators, Naruto frowned, although he wasn't surprised at that in the least. Diplomacy was always tough sledding when dealing with people who had no trust for you.

"Listen, I don't care about your stupid little hang-ups!" Naruto snapped. He was starting to get frustrated with these old fools. "I want to know if you can even _make_ an Anima that'll take magic out of this world. Can you?"

"We-we can," the lead technician said, her voice quavering as a result of Naruto's outburst, but it eventually firmed as she uttered her refusal. "But we won't." _Not for you__,_ was what went unsaid.

The clone sighed at hearing that, rubbing his forehead in his vexation at the time wasted in his futile venture to maintain civility. "Then I guess I'll just have to operate the Anima machine myself."

"What?! But... but you don't know how to operate it! You _can't!"_

Giving the woman a quizzical look, the blond said, "Of course I can." The control room was adjacent to the cavernous operations chamber; once there, he'd be able to craft and bring about the Anima to his liking.

Stunned at his assurance at being able to operate the Anima machine, the woman asked weakly, "If... if you truly knew how to operate the Anima generator, then why do all this? Why try to recruit us? Why ask for our assistance?"

Naruto smiled grimly, an apologetic look in his eyes as he said, "So I wouldn't have to do this."

With a flare of his killing intent, he sent everyone else in the room into a state of catatonia, paralyzed out of sheer fear due to the weight of the projected intent. A pulse of his dense chakra later, and they were all sent into a collective unconsciousness.

While he obviously didn't need them thanks to his intimate knowledge of the Anima machine's mechanism, he would have preferred leaving them as they were and potentially getting their aid to make the process easier and more seamless; unfortunately, they had chosen to fear the wrong man.

* * *

[|||]

(Meanwhile — With Fairy Tail Edolas)

"Get on the ship!" Lucy bellowed. "There's no time to waste! This place is done for!"

"No! We refuse to consort with you! The king wants you _dead!_ You criminals from Fairy Tail being here means nothing good for us! Leave us alone!"

Lucy snapped at the clueless civilians, irked at how naïve they were being. "Look, ya damn idiots! You've all already evacuated your little towns, but you've only made it this far because you've had no choice! Louen and Sycca are _no more!_ I mean, look at them!" A glance back in the directions of the towns showed that they had quickly collapsed into ruination as the world's seismic activity increased in its potency. "These edoquakes have destroyed them, and if we don't do anything, we'll be next! Do you really think you have a choice now? If you don't take these ships, you'll all die!"

"B-but these ships belong to the Royal Army! It may be alright for criminals like you to take them for yourselves, but we can't risk undertaking such a venture!"

"They have a point, you know," Wendy said lowly from her position adjacent to the blonde. "The only viable route for this ship to take is to the Bay of Traia, which is the closest body of water to the Royal City. If they board this ship, they're risking a lot."

"Yeah, but at least one of those risks wouldn't include their lives," Lucy shot back. "And unless you want to be the one to do all the work and get these civilians onto the ships and out of here, you'll shut the hell up _right now."_

To her satisfaction, Wendy obliged.

After some more arguing with the belligerent citizens who were adamant that they not take the ships that would get them to safety (boy, were they stupid), they finally acquiesced. That development was primarily thanks to Wendy finally stepping in and appealing to them in a more civil manner, a process that took far longer than Lucy could ever care for.

They were currently on the coast bordering the strait that spanned the gap between the two landmasses and the cities Sycca and Traia. The guild had, as a whole, decided to do what they could to get people out of the hellish landscape that the western subcontinent had become; conveniently, an entire fleet of ships laid abandoned on the coastline north of Sycca. It didn't take much convincing of her guild mates that they may as well appropriate the watercrafts made for and used by the Royal Army — a glance back at the battlefield, where countless soldiers laid either dead or unconscious, was all they needed to know that the ships wouldn't be missed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy spotted Lisanna, who was staring almost longingly off into the western horizon. The white-haired girl had, at the very least, managed to have finally broken away from Mira and Elfman, but seemed to have her thoughts preoccupied elsewhere.

Approaching Lisanna from behind, Lucy opened her mouth to address her, but was surprised when the girl spoke to the blonde without turning to visually acknowledge her, saying, "Why are we doing all this?"

Lucy, caught off guard at the blue-eyed girl somehow managing to anticipate her arrival, merely uttered a baffled, "Wha?"

"These people, these... _civilians,"_ Lisanna said deliberately, turning to look at Lucy with a hard stare that looked strange and out of place when formed by her normally bright blue eyes. "Why help them at all? Why not leave them? We don't have the means or the time to look after them."

"Wh... where did this come from?" Lucy asked, taken aback at the line of questioning.

Lisanna frowned at the defensive reaction, the words Naruto uttered to her in passing running through her mind.

_"That's... wrong."_

_"Why would they leave you behind like that?"_

_"Feh... some friends _they_ are..."_

His blunt observations had slithered into her head, lingering at the back of her mind in spite of the guild's contradictory behaviour here with the displaced citizens of the two towns that had collapsed due to all the fighting and the world's cataclysmic reaction to it. The only ones who had shown any genuine, heartfelt concern for her were her edo-siblings; while everyone else at least greeted her with great pleasure at her being relatively unharmed, Mirajane and Elfman's tearful reaction to her return had actually invoked feelings of guilt to emanate within her. She was ashamed that she had ever thought they'd be alright with leaving her to the wolves, so to speak.

It was with a start that she had come to the incredulous realization that Fairy Tail Edolas was truly the opposite of the Fairy Tail of Earthland that she knew and loved. Of course, there were the opposite personality quirks in the members themselves, but even the guild's nature ran incongruously to their Earthland counterpart; where the latter, as a whole, would do anything to protect and stand by its members, the former wouldn't, at least when faced with imminent danger. But wasn't that when solidarity and togetherness were most important? In times of peril?

"Are you still worried about that idiot?" Lucy asked, snapping the white-haired girl out of her quickly souring thoughts as she referred to Naruto in an obvious bid to change the topic of conversation. When the white-haired girl nodded morosely, the blonde scoffed. "And what good does that do for you? For us?"

Lisanna looked at her sharply. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, what can you possibly do for him? Is there anything you can do to help him when he's fighting the Royal Army?"

Lisanna looked down, her deep blue eyes softening at the inquiry. "No..."

"So what is your worrying good for? It's not helping him, and it's sure as hell not helping us."

"But..."

Lucy sighed, frowning. "Lisanna..."

"You... you don't understand, Lucy," the short-haired girl said heatedly. "You weren't there when he just... _threw_ caution to the wind and jumped right into a fight with Erza Knightwalker! You weren't there when he fought her comrade, who not only may be as strong as she is, but is twice her size! You weren't there when he fought them both _at the same time!_ You weren't there when he fought... _drove_ after drove of the Royal Army's foot soldiers single-handedly!" At this point, the petite girl was shouting, breathing harshly as her blossoming bosom heaved in her anger. Lucy, stunned, could only listen to the ongoing outburst.

"You know on my way out of there I saw a... _monstrous _metallic dragon?" Lisanna continued, asking a rhetorical question as she all but hissed at the blonde. "It was going right towards him, but you didn't see that, did you? You ran away! You _all_ ran away! So you'll forgive me for being a _little_ worried!"

Lucy was speechless. After a time, though, she spoke up, having taken the time in which Lisanna could calm down from her little tirade to gather her thoughts. "You know, I always thought he was kinda like me. A guy who liked going against the grain, someone not afraid of what anyone thinks."

The white-haired girl gave no indication that she heard what Lucy said, merely wiping at a stray tear that had trickled down her right cheek, but quietly said in reluctant agreement, "I guess that's true."

Lisanna didn't have it in her to be angry any longer. She was just so _tired_ of it all. The people of this world led such a miserable existence, living in the tyranny of Faust's dystopia; she honestly wondered what the hell she had been thinking to have ever been alright with the mere _prospect_ of spending the rest of her days here. Whatever her motivations were, she knew that they no longer mattered now that Naruto had come into her life.

He was just like her, abducted from Earthland, from his _home,_ and he was fighting to get back, to _get away_ from this hellhole. Granted, the Royal Army was hunting him (as opposed to them practically ignoring her aside from her affiliation with Fairy Tail), but that was neither here nor there. The point was, she wanted to go with him. She wanted to leave this place, forgo this sad existence, and return to her family, to her friends, to _her_ Fairy Tail.

She wanted to go home.

Lucy smiled, oblivious to Lisanna's current thoughts as she answered the soft-spoken girl's last utterance. "It is, but I also noticed that he's a cocky bastard who does some stupid shit when it comes to fights." Lisanna merely sniffled at that; she already knew all too well about _that._

"He's also one of the few people who can back up such overconfidence on the battlefield. You watched him fight them, right? You just said as much. He didn't lose did he?"

"...I don't know. He sent me away before I could see what had happened," Lisanna replied somewhat absently.

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure he beat them."

"What makes you say that?" the blue-eyed girl asked.

"Because I saw him fight them too, and he made it look so easy, I actually felt _embarrassed_ for them. It was insane."

"Really," Lisanna said, quirking an eyebrow as she chuckled shakily. To hear that he was as strong as he acted gave her some comfort, but she was still worried for him. They had only known each other for... what, a day and a half at _most?_ Regardless, she considered him to be a good person, and a good friend; she wanted him to be all right so that they could go back to Earthland together.

"Yes, which is why you shouldn't worry about him, okay? Once we get him back, we're gonna have to show him that sometimes, it's better to be afraid than it is to be brave."

"...You're right. Thanks, Lucy," Lisanna said, outwardly voicing her agreement, but in the back of her mind, she doubted Naruto would ever join their guild; they were too flaky, and she found herself longing to be by his side rather than be with these doppelgängers of her true guild mates.

"Ah, it was nothing," Lucy said with a smile, unwary of Lisanna's contradictory thoughts.

"No," Lisanna said, turning to face her sort-of friend fully; at the very least, she knew the blonde meant well, in spite of the guild she was starting to have legitimate misgivings about. "It was great, and really well said."

"Well, I don't know..."

Lisanna smiled, her previously dark thoughts receding from her mind as she took in the blonde's flustered expression. "...You know, Naruto was right. You _are_ a mother hen."

"I... I am _not!"_

"The great Lucy Ashley, the Mother Hen of Fairy Tail! Now, isn't _that_ a nice nickname!"

"D-don't call me that!"

"Relax, I'm only teasing!" Lisanna said with a giggle, the rapid change in her countenance doing a good job of convincing Lucy that her mood had been lifted.

"Good. And you better not tell anyone we had this talk."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"And don't go calling me by that stupid nickname either."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good, now come on," Lucy said, either oblivious to the facetious tone Lisanna's voice had taken, or deliberately ignorant to it as she put a hand on the dainty girl's exposed shoulder. "We need to link up with the guild so we can–"

She was suddenly cut off by the blaring noise of what seemed to be a group of trumpets. The cacophonous sounds spread out from above, where a flock of cats flew by.

"It's... it's the Exceeds..." was all Lucy managed to utter, her tone laced with disbelief. "What the hell are they doing here?!"

"They're going to where Naruto is!" Lisanna cried, her fear for the blond rushing back. "C'mon Lucy, let's go!"

"Wait!" the blonde shouted, grabbing the white-haired girl's arm. "They're too fast for us to follow on foot. We need a ride!"

As if he had been cognizant of their plight, Natsu zoomed in on his magic four-wheeled vehicle right on cue, wheels blazing and kicking up a miniature dust cloud as it skidded to a stop. "You called?"

Lucy grinned at the sight, saying, "Great timing, Natsu. About time you started pulling your weight around here." Ignoring Natsu's petulant grumblings at the slight, the girl said, "Follow those cats!"

"Eh?!" Natsu exclaimed in shock. "Are you _nuts?" _His reaction made it apparent to Lisanna that he had actually come to take them in the opposite direction: to the ship the guild would soon be boarding to get to the Royal City.

Lucy grabbed Natsu by the lapels of his jacket and shook him violently in response, yelling, "Stop arguing! You're wasting time! Now do as I say and follow those damned cats!" When she relinquished her punishing hold on the now-dishevelled Natsu (who reluctantly followed her extempore directive), the blonde with big brown eyes turned to Lisanna, her smile widening as the girl with similarly large blue eyes returned the smile hesitantly, although she felt as joyous as her hardy companion looked at the convenient occurrence that was Natsu's arrival.

Hopefully this wouldn't be the last of their good fortune.

* * *

[|||]

'Good,' Naruto thought as he spotted the people fleeing in the distance, rushing en masse to the boats that would take them clear to the other side of the continent. 'Last thing I need is people dying needlessly.' Hopefully the damage he had had a part in wreaking could be restricted to this area, but in his experience, such a thing was often wishful thinking, at best.

Speaking of fleeing...

"I'm surprised you two are still here," Naruto said as he noticed both Erza — who had reacquired her magic spear — and Pantherlily having awoken, standing on the peripheries of the battlefield; the former looked haggard and weakened (probably due to the chains of his Outer Path — she looked pale and a bit thin), unable to stand on her own and thus having to lean on the Exceed's larger form for support. The clone he had sent with them had long dispelled, notifying him of the tall Exceed's regaining of consciousness, and said Exceed's forceful awakening of his uptight companion.

While neither of them spoke, they also made no move to attack him, a decision he liked to think was motivated by the thrashing he had just given them and their leader.

As for the enemy he was currently engaged with, well... he'd be lying if he said he'd allow the frenzied king the opportunity to flee after everything he'd done; not that he could, anyway. The mecha dragon was currently unmoving, completely stationary as if it had been broken to the point of being incapable of motion altogether.

That is, until it suddenly started to move rudimentarily, its limbs having escaped the localized damage of Kurama's corrosive chakra. The entirety of the construct's middle portion had degenerated and was completely warped, though; the damage did the job of introducing a new weak point on the machine, showing that not even Faust's precious weapon was impervious to damage.

**"Nghhh..."** Faust grunted with effort as he struggled to commandeer the motor controls of his ultimate weapon (which had been messed up something fierce after enduring Naruto's sole offensive move of the battle), but found himself too weak due to his injuries to do much of anything.

**"To think..."** Faust rasped from within his artificial dragon, **"t... to think you'd truly be THIS powerful... I never would have thought it would come to this when we sought to collect magic power. It seems I have no choice..."**

When Naruto heard that, his eyes lit up in a mixture of amusement and curiosity. What could the guy even do? His machine had been ravaged. "So you really are the one who was behind my arrival here... and here I thought it was Byro who truly ruled Edolas, and that you were just some _puppet king_ under his control..."

Faust, clearly enraged at the remark meant to anger him, hissed, **"You dare? You ****_dare?_**** I... am ****_Faust! _****KING of Edolas! And I... ****_serve..._**** NO ONE!"**

Naruto smirked. Clearly he hit a nerve with that little taunt.

He was ready to finish the old fool right then and there, but the sound of blaring trumpets sounding out caused him to momentarily pause; it was a noise which was followed by the sounds of a multitude of wings flapping vigorously in concert.

"WRONG!" an eccentric voice shouted out from a short distance away up in the skies. "YOU SERVE... THE _EXCEEDS!"_

'What the hell?' Naruto thought. 'What _now?'_ His internal question was answered when a flock of cats swooped down upon the battlefield, dressed in uniforms and armed with various melee weaponry.

The Extalia Imperial Guard had flown out in force.

"HUMANS~! Leave the Earthland mage to US!" the Imperial Guard Captain, Nichiya, hollered, sword in hand as he led the platoon of his most competent men down upon the devastated battlefield. "The Queen commands it!"

"Idiots," Pantherlily grumbled, incredulous at their incompetence and incredibly poor situational awareness. "What the hell are they thinking? Do they honestly think they can strong-arm Faust into doing as they say? Do they really think they can get him to relinquish his claim on Uzumaki? And even if they could, could they even beat Uzumaki _himself?"_ And was Nichiya speaking the truth? If so, what the hell was Shagotte thinking?

"The Exceeds..." Erza muttered quietly, stunned at their unexpected arrival. "Uzumaki must be more important than I thought if even _they_ want him..."

When Faust made no move to answer them, the Exceed Captain took that as some sort of acquiescence on his part, so bellowed, "MEEEEEEHHHHHN~! Capture the HUMAN! We want him ALIVE and UNHARMED! Our Queen demands it, and I'll be damned if we disappoint her Majesty!"

As the flock neared the group of humans, the previously motionless Dragon Knight made its way onto its knees jerkily, before its mouth opened so wide its jaw seemed to unhinge.

**"I... serve... ****_no one,_**** especially not you pathetic cats! After today, ****_I_**** will be the one true King of Edolas, with the elimination of the entire Exceed race! Let this be the herald of your resounding defeat! Experience... ****_total destruction!"_**

At this declaration, the nozzle within Dorma Anim's gaping maw shifted into one that was obsidian in colouration and thicker in diameter. On the machined creature's two shoulders, two thin panels flipped open as two nozzles identical in appearance to the first emerged, protruding forth before expelling a trio of bright blue energy beams in concert that enveloped and trapped the airborne Exceed in a dome of crackling energy.

"RNNGH! HU... _HUMANS...!_ WHAT... WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" the Exceed captain shrieked in apoplectic rage. "YOU _DARE...?!"_

"UWAAAH!"

"GYAAAH! IT _HURTS!"_

"AAAAAH!"

The lacrima converter cannon installed in his prized weapon did its job well, rapidly converting the main platoon of the Imperial Guard into a lacrima that took on the appearance of a gigantic, crystalline cat, but not before the Exceed leader hollered one last threat in his feverish panic.

"THE QUEEN... _WILL HAVE YOUR HEADS FOR THIS!"_

The moment the cat lacrima crashed to the ground, the large mecha-dragon wasted no time, making its way to its feet in order to close with the newly repurposed source of magical power.

"FAAAAUUUUUUST!" Pantherlily bellowed furiously, charging the dragon knight recklessly in an effort to prevent what he knew would come next. Blitzing the metal construct at a speed that impressed even Naruto, the battle-adept Exceed closed with his enemy, using his sharp claws as he initiated his spur-of-the-moment melee attack. It was proving to be futile, but he didn't care; he wasn't about to just stand by and let this atrocity happen.

Faust did want it to happen, though, and so maneuvered his dragon puppet's metal tail to harshly strike Pantherlily and send him into a crumpled heap a short distance away. All too quickly, Faust had the Dorma Anim place a hand on the cat lacrima once he reached it in order to establish physical contact with it so that he could start absorbing the newly repurposed magical energy and put it to use. The absorption process itself didn't take very long, the solid lacrima state allowing for the conversion into pure magical energy to occur with great rapidity. It was quite timely for the Edolas monarch, since he had drained the planet's magic stores to a state of near-depletion — he was convinced that this would give him the power to overcome the blond mage.

"No, STOP!" Pantherlily yelled in frustration, lying on the ground in pain from the latest blow he had endured on this day. It was too late, though. He was helpless to do anything to stop the unceremonious demise of his fellow Exceeds as the Dragon Knight devoured their magical energy and respective life forces precipitately, leaving naught but a trace of the prideful warriors of Extalia. It was a shame, really; they, for all intents and purposes, merely served themselves up on a silver platter for Faust to appropriate their life energy into more fuel for his magic-thirsty weapon.

**"Hehehehe... HAHAHAHAHAAA! Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Not only have I just neutralized a portion of the Exceed threat, I have generated enough power to ensure your defeat, boy! The time has come for me to crush your fighting spirit! Now, fall before the true power of the glorious nation of Edolas! Dorma Anim: Black Sky!"**

After hearing that, Naruto prepared himself for whatever the guy would try to do next. Part of him was regretting letting this all transpire, but he never knew of such a capability being available to the psychopathic monarch. When he saw the armoured machine dragon morph in colour from a metallic silver into a glossy black, the warped metal straightening and reforming into an immaculate shell for its host, he could actually feel its power ramp up. Not only that, the boost in energy allowed for the metal puppet to move with improved fluidity, able to stand upright as it overcame its crippling at Naruto's most recent attack.

Naruto felt conflicted at the development. While a part of him was curious at what its full power looked like (a curiosity he felt he could afford given its relative inferiority to him), the rational part of his mind knew that he couldn't let things remain as they were; he'd wasted enough time as it was, and he had to end this, soon.

As far as his opponent was concerned, it became all too apparent that the absorption of the Exceeds that comprised the Extalia Imperial Guard had merely been enough to catalyze the transformation of the Dorma Anim (as well as repair a good portion of the damage he had already inflicted upon it), and in order to sustain it, it would need to take more and more magic power from the surrounding environment.

Thus, it was no surprise that the environmental reaction, given said environment's glaring lack of the very energy it previously had in spades, was violent; the earth started breaking apart almost explosively, the winds started whipping up into a frenzy (to the point where miniature typhoons started forming at moderate distances from where they were standing), and lava started flowing in rivulets across the cracked earth.

None of this would have been possible, though, if not for Naruto's presence; while the Dorma Anim was extracting every last modicum of magic power from Edolas, Naruto's potent energy was wreaking havoc on the immediate environment that had been weakened by its currently bereft state as far as magic quantities were concerned.

**"The output of magical power of Dorma Anim has now been increased manifold! Behold the power of ****_Black Sky!"_** At that declaration, the now-upright Dragon Knight, which was now dual-wielding swords, swiped them each at the ground in front of it in the direction of Naruto. In a split-second, the area where the ground was struck erupted.

Naruto managed to dodge the attack, but it was a closer thing than he would have liked to admit, since the ground beneath them exploded unexpectedly in a blast of energy and flaring bright lights.

**"You..."** the mad king growled though the lacrima-empowered speakers on his precious Dragon Knight, furious at the sight of the blond having once more dodged his latest attack, **"you... I won't let you send Edolas into ****_ruin_****. In fact, I'll use your power to revolutionize this world!"**

"You want my 'power', huh?" Naruto asked lowly in a threatening tone as he placed his left hand over his stomach, correctly inferring that the king of Edolas was (erroneously) blaming _him_ for the planet's rapid deterioration. The man wanted the power that had actually helped destroy his world rather than make it more powerful? Naruto chuckled, scoffing at that; he'd be sure to oblige the man, but not in the way he would have liked.

Concentrating some more of the red chakra of the Kyūbi he had at his disposal alongside a small portion of his own chakra into his right hand, he formed a Rasengan that was its usual blue, except it had a red shell surrounding it, reinforcing it. At the point of contact between the two chakras, there was a sort of a merging effect, giving it a purplish glow to it and therefore making the Rasengan take on a gradient-like appearance, with smooth color transitions between the red bijū chakra, his blue chakra, and the purple mixture of the chakra between them.

This action of him preparing a technique didn't go unnoticed, particularly since he had been rather passive for a majority of their fight, so Faust felt compelled to attempt to strike first before Naruto could attack.

**"Rrrrngh... DIE!"**

At that rancorous utterance, the machine opened its mouth, a triangular-shaped nozzle protruding forth from its gaping maw as it began charging an energy beam of great potency. **"Dragon Rider's ROAR!"**

When Naruto saw the concentrated energy beam heading in his direction, he, in remembering his previous attempt at absorbing a magic spell, decided it wasn't worth taking head on, so dodged it with a timely shunshin. Once he cleared the attack, he dashed in with another burst of high-speed movement to engage the mechanical construct in close quarters, bringing forth his prepared technique, the Shui Rasengan (Vermillion Spiralling Sphere), to strike at his nefarious opponent.

In a flash of speed that would give the average person the impression that he had teleported, Naruto appeared in front of the obscene construct as he thrusted the bijū-chakra infused Rasengan right into its gut, thoroughly damaging the machine at the point of contact. The attack managed to penetrate the armoured shell of the Edolas superweapon, and its metallic exterior, which had once been immaculate and unblemished, became irreversibly warped due to its point-blank exposure to a concentrated dose of the Kyūbi's unfiltered chakra.

In addition to the fairly large hole in the middle of it, the corrosive chakra of the Kyūbi-enhanced Rasengan invaded the mechanical construct, managing to ravage the Dragon Knight's armoured shell with its potency as it caused it to begin jerking around aimlessly before it collapsed, its motor functions having been rendered inoperable. In the face of his intense chakra-based technique, the metallic construct's protection was paltry at best — the Vermillion Rasengan had practically melted the right through its shell at the point of impact, the point-blank, blunt force trauma sending the vaunted Edolas weapon into a state of severe disrepair.

Seeing the Dorma Anim still into a sort of motionlessness, he ramped down on the chakra he was drawing from his tailed beast, reducing his bijū cloak down to only one tail's worth of chakra before retracting it altogether. He had no intention of accelerating the destruction of Edolas any more than he already had — it looked like Faust had done more than enough in that regard.

All he needed was to get out of here... so long as he did that, everything else would take care of itself.

"Heh... you actually defeated him..."

Naruto turned to look behind him, only to be met with the red-eyed gaze of Pantherlily, who had dragged himself over to the short overhanging cliff on the left side of the arid battlefield to avoid the lava (as little as there was of it, anyway). He smirked, saying, "Yeah." Seeing the Exceed gingerly cradling his body reminded the blond of just how the cat had gotten the latest of his injuries, prompting him to tell the Exceed, "...Sorry I didn't save your comrades." He didn't know why he was apologizing; Lily's 'comrades' had wanted to take him prisoner, after all. It was part of the reason he'd remained idle — letting two of his enemies fight each other and all that, although it backfired in the case of Faust, whose weapon seemed to grow noticeably stronger from the encounter.

Pantherlily smirked wryly at that, saying, "They weren't my comrades." Noticing the questioning look the blond gave him in light of that information, he elaborated, "They were warriors from my homeland, Extalia, a place where I've long since been banished from."

The way he spoke of his homeland, in a strangely longing fashion, gave Naruto the impression that he either missed his home greatly, or he was banished unjustly... or both.

He himself couldn't fathom being banished from Konoha (a scenario he only imagined in order to relate to Pantherlily), so he could understand the panther's grief. Turning his attention back onto the downed Faust, Naruto, with a frown on his face, said, "So you wanted to save them because they were from your homeland?"

Pantherlily grimaced at the reminder, saying, "Yeah, and if you didn't do anything, I would have been the one to handle Faust. More than that, if you didn't do anything to stop him now, he would have gone on to do that to the rest of the Exceed race had I failed as well. So, you may not have saved these fools, but you saved almost the rest of my race from certain death. ...You have my thanks."

Naruto hummed in appreciation at the reluctant expression of gratitude, before asking, "Where's Erza?"

The black Exceed responded by looking up; Naruto followed his gaze, only to be greeted with the sight of a Legion (so he hadn't killed them all) with two people riding it. "Coco brought her Legion from the capital," Pantherlily said. Naruto got the feeling that the large cat was grateful for the girl's appearance; it meant he wouldn't have to look after the surly redhead, who currently was incapable of any level of independency. The Exceed himself was nursing wounds of his own, and would have been hard-pressed to aid the ailing woman.

Hearing a faint rumbling noise off in the distance, Naruto directed his attention back to the eastern horizon; upon his doing so, he was greeted with the familiar sight of a car that was on fire and out of control careening towards them.

Knowing what to expect, Naruto remained where he was, and found it hard to be surprised when both Lucy and Lisanna clambered out of it once it skidded to a stop in front of him, spraying lava everywhere. Naruto felt that the only reason he didn't panic was because of his transplanted eye, which had Sharingan properties and allowed for him to anticipate and avoid the lava globules hurtling towards him.

"WHOA! Are you _serious_ right now?! Wow!"

Naruto grimaced at the familiar sounding voice as the curvaceous blonde who owned said voice scampered up to him_,_ making sure to watch her step in order to avoid stepping in some of the thin streams of lava as she expressed her jubilance at his victory. "You did it again! I shoulda known ya had it in ya!"

"Lucy..." Naruto said, nonplussed at their far too premature reunion. She seemed to be genuinely happy to see him, as if they hadn't had an argument in which she'd stormed off angrily just earlier that day. Lisanna wasn't far behind, he noticed, following sedately and holding up her long skirt in her hands as she traipsed across the cracked earth. As she came upon them, he greeted her before saying to them both, "Lisanna... what are you guys doing? This is no time for a... a reunion."

"Why not?" Lucy asked. "The war's over, isn't it?"

Naruto frowned at how casually she had referred to everything that had transpired to being a war, although he knew she wasn't wrong in her assessment. Registering the other part of her question, he quirked an eyebrow at the girl, asking, "What makes you say that?"

"You beat that psycho tyrant king!" she exclaimed. "I mean, look at him; you trashed his precious magic suit! There's no way the war will continue now, Naruto. You cut off the head of the snake!"

What an overly simple way of looking at it, Naruto thought with an amused grin. Turning to Lisanna, he asked warmly, "How are you? Are you okay?"

The white-haired girl mometarily tilted her head in confusion, before nodding hesitantly with a pink-tinged face as she not only took in the sound of his voice, but realized what exactly he was asking her. She eventually gave voice to her answer, saying, "Um... I'm fine, but... why ask?"

"Well, I know what you went through on my bird and everything, y'know?" he said, casually reaching over and cupping her cheek gently. The affectionate gesture had Lisanna sporting a furious blush.

"No... no, don't worry about that right now, Naruto," Lisanna said, speaking so softly that she wouldn't have been heard had the area been filled with noise. Catching herself leaning into his calloused palm (which emitted a warmth that she not only felt drawn to, but felt transfer into her own body, giving her the feeling of a pleasurable buzz that quickly spread within her), she backed away slightly, shaking her head as she tried to recall just what it was she had wanted to tell him. She tried to continue speaking, but was cut off by a loud creaking noise that pierced through the welcome silence.

All eyes turned to the glossy black mecha-dragon, which started moving slightly, still in its prone position.

**"I should have seen it..."**

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at hearing that, surprised at the raspy, yet calm and contemplative voice that echoed through the Dorma Anim's speakers. It seemed he hadn't fully destroyed the magic-consuming construct that the power-hungry king had thought to be invincible, but it looked like he wouldn't need to, seeing as how it was low on power and incapable of standing to fight him. With the exception of its head and neck, the rest of its body was mangled and warped. Even if it somehow managed to make its way back into some semblance of an upright position, which didn't seem at all possible, he wouldn't be worried in the least; he had seen all that it was capable of, after all.

**"I became too zealous... trying to fight when it was all unnecessary..."**

"You ready to surrender?" Naruto asked, stepping forward as Lisanna and Lucy (who remained behind him) backed away from them, surprised that he was still alive. "You know you can't win. Give up, and I'll spare your life. Live out the rest of your numbered days without your precious magic."

**"No..."** he said lowly, growling as the mechanical dragon flexed its long neck to rise its head towards him, its mouth opening wide once more as it revealed that same large, black nozzle that charged a familiar crackling blue energy. That, combined with the emergence of its accompanying shoulder nozzles, spelled out what would soon occur.

**"No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, ****_NO!"_**

In the next instant, it expelled yet another trio of beams of that bright blue magic; this time, however, the beams spewed by the lacrima conversion cannon were of a much greater potency, and as a result, were of a much wider range. The vast improvement to its area of effect was an attempt to account for Naruto's speed, but it was futile since he still evaded the last-ditch attack.

Just because he managed to dodge it, though, didn't mean any of the others had.

_"KyaaaaaAAAAHHHHH!"_

'Lisanna!' Naruto thought, feeling a strange sort of panic shoot through his heart at the tortured scream the girl let loose. He had momentarily forgotten about her at the sight of the metal dragon's improbable operation.

Lucy was frozen beside her, for some reason wholly unaffected by the magic converting attack — unsurprising given that she had no magic inside her. She was horrified, though, seeing Lisanna writhing in pain like that, a reaction that told Naruto that the short-haired girl indeed had magic. Concentrating on his vision through the Rinnegan, he could see the faint wisps of the energy common between magic and chakra — which was all his eye could discern — solidifying within Lisanna's slender form, symptomatic of the forced transformation she was undergoing.

Absently noting that Pantherlily was within the range of the beam as well (though undergoing much the same process as the dainty white-haired girl, he made no overt noises to indicate his discomfort; he was merely growling mutedly in his efforts to endure the attack), Naruto voluntarily entered the lacrima converting ray to extract Lisanna and spare her any further pain, but was shocked to find that even _he_ was affected by the technique, albeit slightly. Small crystals started forming on his extremities _very_ slowly (a sign of his internal energy being intrinsically different to magic), appearing on his hands and feet and starting to spread towards his wrists and ankles in an effort to cover as much of his body as quickly as possible.

In a flash of light, the beam ceased in its operation; it seemed Faust had exhausted all the magic at his disposal. It had done its job, though, Naruto thought grimly as he turned towards Lisanna and was surprised by the sight of her having been transformed into a giant lacrima, the block of crystal being a physical manifestation of the magic she was made up of. Pantherlily, from what the spiky-haired blond had seen, had been turned into a somewhat large cat lacrima as well.

Naruto, not even bothering to examine himself (the lacrima crystallization process his body had started to undergo had stalled, leaving only his hands, forearms, feet and shins partially yet patchily covered by the blue crystal-like substance), started drawing upon Kurama's power once more, the corrosive cloak of chakra enveloping him in his anger as the crystals that had formed on his limbs were shattered in short order.

He felt fury and shame at what he had let happen; fury at the injustice that had been done to Lisanna (not to mention the implication that the power-hungry king intended to end her life not unlike what he did to the Exceed Imperial Guard), and shame that he'd left the man the chance to live without ensuring his total and thorough defeat.

"You should have stayed down..." he growled balefully as he brought forth his right hand decisively and generated a Rasengan larger than normal before directing the gaze of his left eye at it.

'Amaterasu (Heavenly Illumination),' was the thought that went through his mind as he set the much-heralded, unquenchable black flames upon his signature technique. While the Rinnegan eye was able to make use of the Sharingan technique thanks to their amalgamated properties in that lone orb, he lacked the ability to precisely manipulate the flames to his liking, and so the technique was not localized to the Rasengan despite it being the focal point of where his eyesight was directed.

The end result was that, despite covering the blue sphere of chakra with the slow burning flames, said flames also covered his hand.

The rational part of his mind supposed that it was a good thing that he had his Version One cloak active — else he would have subjected himself to his own attack — but on the whole, he was still furious with his opponent, and intended to make sure he'd be finished.

The practically prone robotic dragon quickly switched out another nozzle within its jaws, this one silver and far wider in diameter than the others. The function behind the design became apparent in the very next moment, though, when it started violently sucking everything within its line of sight towards it, obviously hoping to guzzle down whatever magic it could get its paws on.

It wanted Pantherlily. It wanted Lisanna.

It wanted _him._

"Greedy old bastard," he snarled. If he was so hungry, then the blond would gladly serve him up his last meal. At that thought, an idea popped into his mind as to how he could manipulate the flames of Amaterasu. Realizing that they couldn't bypass or penetrate his bijū chakra, he manifested two additional chakra arms, using them as a proxies to shape and corral the unruly flames, moulding them around his Rasengan. The final incarnation of the technique was of his usual standard fare Rasengan, surrounded by a shell of the obsidian flames, which itself was encapsulated by a red shell of bijū chakra courtesy of Kurama.

**"Your magic power... for the glory of Edolas... _relinquish it to me!"_**

"You_... _you deserve... _far_ worse than this," Naruto said deliberately, his visage twisted in a rictus of rage as his fury threatened to overwhelm him at the sight of his feeble opponent lying prone, yet _still_ making demands of him. He managed to gather himself, though, when he finalized his newest attack, saying, "But... since you want it so bad, I'll gladly let you feel... just a _little_ of my power! Enton: Shui Rasengan (Blaze Release: Vermillion Spiralling Sphere)!"

Given that it wasn't a Rasenshuriken (let alone the fact that he didn't include sage chakra in the attack), he couldn't throw it, and so kept it stable by extending forth a chakra arm from his right hand to thrust it into the dragon knight. The moment it made contact with it, the technique exploded in a violent flare of chakra, the spiralling functionality of the Rasengan propelling the potent flames outwards in all directions at the point of contact.

**_"YYYEEEAAAAARRRGH!"_** Faust yelled, shrieking in pain as the attack wholly enveloped him; no longer operating the Dorma Anim's vacuum nozzle, the lacrimas that Lisanna and Pantherlily had become ceased in their movements, safe from being absorbed and appropriated by Faust much like how the now-deceased Extalia Imperial Guard had been.

Faust, in the unenviable position of being burned alive, scrambled within the mangled, disfigured construct, desperate to escape. His efforts were in vain, though, as he soon found that the flames had trapped him within, having warped the metal to the point of sealing him in. His prized machine would become his final resting place.

That wasn't the end of it, though: the potency of the attack that was essentially comprised of three separate sources of chakra was more than strong enough to penetrate his armoured protection, coming into contact with his lower body and vaporizing it in mere moments. The flames quickly expanded into a miniature conflagration, with the dying monarch's screams reaching a crescendo just before the volatile technique (and the metallic construct at its epicentre) exploded in a blazing shower of sparks and fire.

Naruto didn't flinch in the face of the attack's explosive aftermath, staring resolutely at just what he had brought forth. His rage had lessened into an out-of-place solemnity reflecting just what it was he'd done.

It was one thing for an individual to endure immolation as a result of run-of-the-mill, generic fire, but to be set ablaze by and suffer at the hands of an incinerating technique the likes of the inextinguishable black flames conjured up by the Mangekyō Sharingan...

Naruto could understand why the man let loose such tortured screams.

* * *

**And there we have it. The Edolas arc is winding down, with only a few things left for Naruto to deal with before he makes his inevitable departure. It's just as well, what with half of Edolas being ravaged thanks to the combination of adverse forces upon the planet, one of said forces being him.**

**'Till next time, guys. **

**CS.**


End file.
